Weapon X
by Ruben Christopher
Summary: A Man in Search of His Past and his Identity
1. ch1

Weapon X  
Book One  
"The Past Cannot be Forgotten"  
The Saga Begins  
By: Ruben Christopher  
  
Prologue Chapter One  
"The Past Cannot be Forgotten"  
  
"My name is Miles Logan or at least I think it is. I have spent the last two years trying to find that out. Everything I believed to be true, my life, my memories s— turned out to be a lie. An elaborate plot to cover up the truth. But why me, why would they implant all these false memories in my head.? Why would they want to hide who I really am and replace my real life and identity with another life and identity? I don't know but I am going to find out, no matter what. It all happened about 1 year ago, that's when the web of lies started to become unraveled." Logan said.  
  
Chapter One  
"The Past Cannot be Forgotten"  
  
"It started out like any other normal Friday...; I woke up at 7:30 am and made myself breakfast. You know the usual, bacon and eggs, with French toast and a cup of coffee. I went to my door and picked up the morning paper, like I usually do." A man about five feet four inches walks out of a plainly decorated white kitchen and past a round wooden table and through a living room full of black furniture to the front door. He turns the knob and opens it, only to find the morning paper on the floor. He bends down and picks it up and walks back inside his average middle class apartment. He walks to the dinning room table and sits down. Before him is a plate of Bacon and eggs. To the right of the eggs is a plate of French toast and to the left of the eggs is a hot and steaming cup of coffee.  
  
"I sat down and started to eat and read the paper. But as I read the paper I came across this one story about a scientist who was murdered in his home last night. I thought nothing of it; you know, another murder case like always. It's not like I knew the guy. Or did I? They had a photograph of him next to the story and when I took a look at the photo I had some kind of a flash back. But the images in my mind were unfamiliar,unfamiliar; I didn't recall ever experiencing those images." Logan opens up the paper and flips through its pages, until he stops at a page with a murdered doctor story on it. He glances at the picture next to it and freezes. He sits there just with an icy glare on his face.  
  
"They were images of the good doctor hovering over me. I seemed to be lying down, strapped to a table made of cold metal, in some kind of a laboratory. Then another doctor comes came up to me, or rather the good doctor, and they began to talk. Then things just go black." Logan snaps out of it and is dazed and confused.  
  
"I didn't know what to make of it. So I thought nothing of it and I went about my business. I jumped in the shower and after I got out of the shower, I got dressed and left for work.. Then left for work. When I took a look at my watch as I runand ran down the street to the subway station, trying to make my train and I realized I was late. But I've never been late before so I thought that to be a little strange. I'm never late so it seemed strange, but luckily I made my train. The reason why I took the subway because it was faster and I was running late, I couldn't afford to take up any more time. Then it happened again."  
  
"The guy next to me was reading the same story in the paper about the murdered doctor. I glanced at the paper and saw his picture again. It triggered another flash back, but this time I was surrounded by water in some kind of tank, looking through the glass at the doctor. I could see his mouth move but could not hear anything. The room was filled with people in white coats. Then just like that I snapped out of it, just like before. It was the weirdest thing, but; I just put it out of my mind like I had doneid before."  
  
"Sir, sir are you ok?" The guy with the newspaper sitting next to me asked.  
  
"Yeah I'm fine, why?" I replied but, thinking to myself, why is he asking me if I'm fine?, I feel fine but do I look fine?  
  
"You look like you just saw a ghost or something." The man sitting next to me said.  
  
"What do you mean a ghost?" Logan said.  
  
Why would I have seen a ghost? Is this guy drunk or something? I thought to myself as I gave him a bewildered look. Logan thought.  
  
"Yeah a ghost, you were just staring straight ahead, you didn't even blink." The man next to me said.  
  
"No I'm fine, thanks for asking. Where are we? If you don't mind me asking." I looked around and realized I had missed my stop.  
  
"We're on 6th street". The man replied giving me a strange look as if there was something wrong with me. or was there?  
  
"6th street? I was supposed to get off at 3rd." wWas I unconscious?" I asked puzzled as to what had taken place.  
  
"No, like I said before yYou were just looking straight ahead with a blank look on your face. I tried to snap you out of it but it didn't work, you didn't even flinch. It was the weirdest thing, I never seen anything like it before. Well all the same this is my stop.,stop. I'll see you later." The man said and got off the train, which had come to a screeching halt.  
  
I stayed on and got off at the next stop and took a cab to work. I was an hour and a half late. I was never late before but that day was different. Come to think of it I was never running late in the morning before either. I rarely even ran late in the morning, let alone show up to work over an hour late. I always got up and made breakfast and read the paper, showered and changed for work and I always made it to work on time. But today I was late for some reason, then the train incident happened and the man told me I was out for 10 minutes but to me it seemed like a few seconds.  
  
Well But I couldn't worry about that now because I was getting chewed out by my boss. and threatened with being fired.  
  
"Do you hear me Miles?, Miles?, Logan?" John Smith said.  
  
"Huh sir, yeah I hear you. Is there anything else?" Logan replies.  
  
"No there's noting else but you better watch yourself, I'll have my eye on you." John SmithRich Mallon said to Logan in a threatening tone.  
  
"After I went about my usual day once againAfter After that I tried to go about my day as usual, but I. But couldn't help but think about what had happened to me. I deduced that I must have been out for longer than a few seconds in the morning and that was why I was running late in the first place. But what I couldn't figure out where these flash backs were coming from, I didn't remember any of them. So I decided to go see my friend, a psychologist, after work that was a psycologist and see if she could get to the bottom of this.,. About 3 hours passedt and it's was time for me to take my lunch break." Logan explains.  
  
"At lunchtime I sat in the break room with a snack from the vending machineg, and caught another glimpse of the good doctor on the noon news. Only problem was that I was in such a rush this morning I forgot to pack my lunch, so I bought a snack from the vending machines in the break room to hold me over until dinner. So I got my snack and sat down. Alex was watching the news on T.V. When the good doctor's story was broadcast on the lunch -time news program, the newscaster had some new information about the case, but I still couldn't figure out my connection to this guy. and I learned some interesting things about the case that I didn't know before. But I couldn't figure out why this guy was so important to me." The newscaster had some new information about the case, but I still couldn't figure out my connection to this guy.  
  
"They said that his body was never found in the house and the police and F.B.I presumed he met with foul play because there was blood everywhere and the place was ransacked. Some files were missing from a file cabinet and a lapb top computer was taken also. There was also something taken from a hidden safe he had kept in the house as well. There were no witnesses, it appears the neighbors didn't see or hear a thing, which is strange, considering the house was a mess and the man must have met a violent end. I found that strange because the way the place was left and the violent end he must have met with, there must have been a struggle and sounds of weapons being discharged. For anyone not to hear anything ,that's just not possible."  
  
"They found laser burns and laser blast holes on the walls too. They didn't say what kind of a scientist he was or whom he worked forfor whom he worked. But I guess they can't divulge all the information they gathered. This time was different though, they showed a picture of him and it didn't spark anyd flash back. I thought well maybe what happened earlier was a fluke, a freak occurrence."  
  
"That was until the next news story, the story they did was about a hiker who was lost in the woods and was rescued. The pictures of the trees and the way they described his ordeal brought about another flash back. This time the good doctor was not there and I wasn't in a lab but rather running in the through the woods. When all of a sudden I just fell to the ground, it was snowing and fell in the snow. I rolled over on my back and saw a woman and a man standing over me, and then things went black again. When I came too lunch was over and I had to get back to work. So I left but stopped by the restroom first, that'sand when I over heard something I wish I never didhadn't." Logan said.  
  
"So the good doctor met with foul play last night in his home." Man one said.  
  
"Yes so it appears that way." Man two said.  
  
"What a shame, did they find a body?" Man One says to Man Two  
  
"No, or so the media was informed and they reportedsaysreporter said." Man two said.  
  
"A bBody? So there was one found but the news said there was none." I thought to myself as I listened in curious to learn even more.  
  
"So as far as the public and the media is concerned there's a chance he could be alive?" Man one says.  
  
"Alive? But he can't be alive or can he?" I was hanging on every word they were saying, dieing dying to learn more.  
  
"Yup, well that's as far as the media is and the public arec is concerned yes, we thought it best that way to leave the case open." Man Two says to the other man.  
  
"So he is dead... but why would they lie? Why would they want the public and media to think he is alive? What are they trying to hide, what don't they want us to know?."  
  
"Good. And what about the special project's he was working on before he met his maker?" Man one asked Man two.  
  
"Project? What Project? Perhaps they killed him in connection with the project." I thought to myself waiting for what other revelations will come next.  
  
"You must be referring to Project Hynds Blood?" Man Two says.  
  
"Yes that's one of the projects." Man one said.  
  
"Project Hynds blood, what they hell does that mean? What's a Hynd? I never heard that term before. Do I have something to do with it too? All these questions and no answers to them." Logan thinks to himself  
  
"Neutralized, at least for now. We still don't know the names of the others who might have been involved but rest assured we will and soon, our people are following a lead and are very close to achieving the desired results." Man two says.  
  
"And what about our wonderful full Four Horsemen? Has there their cover been compromised in any way?" Man one said.  
  
"Four Horsemen? Another of the good doctor's secret projects that got him killed. How many skeletons did this guy have in his closet? I'm not sure I even want to know at this point."  
  
"To our knowledge still in place and uncompromised. Shall we recall them to be on the safe side?" Man Two says to Man One.  
  
"Yes, do that but not to check up on them but because I have a job for them to do." Man One says.  
  
"Very well I shall give the recall order at once. Does anyone suspect anything? Does anyone suspect that we are involved?" Man two said  
  
"No, our cover is still in intact. Well there is one small itch that we're about to scratch. He'll be dealt with accordingly." Man one said.  
  
"Good than we shall meet back at Mount Olympus later tonight." Man two said. I was listening at the corner but when I turned to leave, I bumped a table with my leg and knocked over a cup of coffee that was sitting on top of it. It spilled all over the carpet but that was the least of my problems.  
  
"What was that noise?" Man one said.  
  
"I don't know. Could someone have been easeves dropping on us? Come on I think we should check it out." Man two says, as they walk slowly towards the corner to investigate the disturbance. When they round the corner they look down and see the cup and the spilled coffee.  
  
"When they turned the corner I had hopped over a nearby desk and ducked behind it, so they won't wouldn't see me. That's all I needed, was for them to find me, and I knew what would happen next if they found out I was ease dropping. So I waited for them to pass, crouching down under the desk. waiting. for them, who ever they were to pass. All I saw were their fine Italian shoes through the crack at the bottom of the desk. Seconds later they walked away. When I was sure the coast was clear I got up from my hiding place and took a look around but I saw no one. around.. I know they did not see me and I didn't see them but I still wanted to know who they were. I didn't recognize their voices, so maybe it wasn't someone I know or work with. There was nothing I could do, so I went back to my desk and tried to concentrate on my work but I found it somewhat difficult to do so. Thaen 5:00 p.m. rolled around and it was time for me to leave. So I packed up and punched out. I got into the elevator and rode it to the parking ground level."  
  
"I got out and began to walk to my carand. I couldn't get what happened off of my mind. I kept thinking about Hynds blood and Four Horsemen. I was so preoccupied that I didn't see the headlights of the car in front of me that was about to run me down. I managed to leap out of the way at the last possible second. I was a hair away from being a stain on the asphalt. But I did look up and get a glance ats the two occupants who were in the car. There were two men in black suites and they were wearing sunglasses."  
  
"They were driving a black Sedudan but I didn't get a good look at their license plate. It was too dark and poorly lit for me to get a really good look at their faces. So I let it go, I thought to myself maybe those were the two men I over heard talking. But if they were what of it, I didn't get a good look at their faces so I was back at square one. but I thoughtBut why would they be at my office?. What was the connection to them? Were they looking for someone or something? Well in any event I continued to walk to my car and when I got there I had a thought. Why were they speeding away? What did they do that they had to makerequired a quick get away, I mean doing forty in an under ground parking garage is a little suspicious. I took a look around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, so I got in my car and drove off to my other appointment."  
  
"I had called my friend earlier from work and told her I'll be stopping by around 7:00 p.m., to talk to her about something really important. But first I had to stop and see a detective friend of mine.; I had at the police station.. I figured he'd probably be working the case, since he was head of the Homicide division. I had him meet me at Jakes, a local bar near the police station."  
  
"I arrived at 5:40 p.m.; he was already there and was sitting at a table in the corner waiting for me. I learned some very interesting things about the good doctor from him."  
  
"Hey Mitch, how are you?" I said as I sat down at the table across from him. Good old Mitch. I knew if anyone could help me he could.  
  
"Good thanks, when you called me you said it was to talk about the case of the murdered doctor, are you connected to it in someway? Because if you are you need to tell me."  
  
"You could say that., I've been having flash backs about the good doctor. At least I think they are, the only problem is I don't know where they're coming from." I said to Mitch.  
  
"Flash backs, about the murder?" Mitch asked me as if he thought I knew something he didn't.  
  
"No not about the murder or anything like that. I'm in a lab and the good doctor is there. I think I was part of some kind of experiment that he performed on me. That's why I need to know whom he was, so I can try to find out where these flash backs are coming from. So I'm hoping you can shed some light on the whole thing."  
  
"Well I'm taking a big risk doing this, if it were anyone else but you...."  
  
"How long have we known each other... ten, fifthteen years. ? Come on we grew up together, you like the father I never had. Remember when I was a kid and I joined little league. You came to everyone of my games, like a father." Logan said.  
  
"You remember that? You were what eight years old? But you were something. Remember dad used to all ways say we both were going to grow up and play for the Yankees." Mitch said.  
  
"Yeah, you weren't bad yourself either, I went to your highschool games with your father. You were the only freshman on the Varisty team. He was a special guy, Dave was like my grand father. Dave, Martha and you made me feel like part of the family. Like I wasn't an orphan, like my home wasn't some orphanage but your home." Logan said.  
  
"Yeah I know what you mean, we all enjoyed having you around and I still do. You are the uncle my kids don't. That means alot to me. Here's a copy of everything we've learned so far, I suggest you make another copy on disc." Mitch said as he hands a disc to Logan, who takes it and puts it into his coat pocket.  
  
"It appears he was the head Geneticist for organization called Gen Tech. Its a private civilian company that is contracted by the Armies secret weapons division." Mitch said.  
  
"So he was a geneticist for the military." I said as I thought to myself how interesting but what would he want with me?  
  
"Yeah butH hebut he was not an ordinary geneticist, but the world's foremost expert in bio genetic evolution and alterations among a living organism." Mitch said.  
  
"What the hell is that? I mean I went to college and I still don't what that means, I never heard of that type of doctor before." I said to Mitch  
  
"I'm not surprised at all, it's a very rare field of medicine, and it's almost unheard of, even in the medical community itself. Well bBasicallybasically in layeman's terms, he studies the effects evolution has had on humans and other living organisms like animals at a genetic level and how it has altered our biology and physiology over the millenniums. In other words he plays around with genes and sees how certain changes will effect human development in various ways. Like taking this gene out and replacing it with another and watching to see the changes." Mitch said.  
  
"Well what did he want with me? I'm just a mild mannered accountant. What, did I mess up on his taxes or something?" I told Mitch trying to figure out why was this guy interested in me.  
  
"I don't know, but I also found out that they found his body at his house. By the time I got there they had already taken it out and they didn't say anything to us because they were the first to arrive on the scene." Mitch said  
  
"Who are they? But wait the news said there was none. Why would they lie? Or rather the police lie to them and the public?" I said I thought that to be odd, unless there was something they were trying to hide.  
  
"I know we were told to inform the mMediamedia there wasn't one because that is what we were informed too." Mitch said.  
  
"Ok but who informed you?" I asked still trying to make some sense of this. The more I founind found out the more questions I had.  
  
"Shortly after the story broke the army took over the investigation, but they were on the scene when we got to his house and were already gathering evidence." Mitch said  
  
"But the Army doesn't investigate murders,murders; they don't have that kind of jurisdiction. And why would they if the murder is outside of the military, theanthen it's a civilian problem for the police or is it?" I said.  
  
"Yeah they do, or they do now since the Justice Department gave it to them just hours after the story broke. They have the authority to investigate,investigate arrest and prosecute in matters pertaining to or related to them. Even though he worked for a civilian company and was not part of the military, technically he still was connected to them so they have jurisdiction over the case. So we were taken off the case and had to turn everything we gathered in those few moments over to these special agents they sent to investigate the murder. We were ordered not to ever discuss our findings with anyone. I took all of our findings and I made the copies as soon as I found out from my boss and before they could come and take it. We had evidence sent to the station before they were granted jurisdiction. I made one copy for you after I got your call and one for me so I can continue this investigation on my own. But that's not all; the reason why they didn't want to reveal the body was because of the way he was killed. He has laser burns on his chest and stomach area, the burns are consistent with blasters set to stun, not kill." Mitch said.  
  
"Well if the lasers didn't kill him, than what did?" I said as I wondered realized that what ever this guy was into was more serious then I ever imagined.  
  
"That's the strange part,part; he had three marks on his face, along the right side of his face. Two at the top of his head on the right temple area, the other on his cheek, they were in the shape of fingered print type marks."  
  
"What do those marks mean and how did that kill him?" I wondered. marks on the face how could thatthat could possibly have killed him.  
  
"I don't know, we've never seen anything like that or even remotely similar to it before. The Medical Examiner said a blood vessel in the right temporal lobe was ruptured and that's why he died but they can't explain where they came from." Mitch said  
  
"That's similar to an aAneurysmaneurysm is it not? But he was a healthy middle aged man, what in his late forties to early fifties." I said to Mitch.  
  
"No, he was actually in his late sixties, that's what's weird, he didn't even remotely look his age and that's not all .all." Mitch was saying just as the waitress came to the table with a traeytray of two drinks and set them down on the table.  
  
"Well there is anything else that I can do for you Mr. Buchanan?" The Waitress said.  
  
"No that'll be all waitress, thanks again for the drinks." Mitch said as she tears off a piece of paper and puts it down on the table and thean leaves.  
  
"Am I hearing things or did she just call you Mr. Buchanan? I thought you didn't drink?" I said as I found that to be a little strange I guess.  
  
"Yeah she did and I don't, she's probably seen me in here before with some of the guys from the station having a getting together after work once in a while, she might have heard them call me by name or something. Anyway the doctor had a safe but not just any safe, this safe had a hand print lock and his blood was found on the panel where you place your hand to unlock it. Like they killed him and held his hand on the scanner. The safe was hidden behind a painting and a secret panel in the wall. You hit a red button under the coffee table in the living room, the painting swings to the side, the panel slides down. The hand shaped scanner is revealed on top and on the bottom is just a squared space. Once you place your hand on the scanner and it verifies your identity, a shelf is raised up from the bottom into the squared space." Mitch says.  
  
"Do you know what was kept in there and subsequently taken from there? I would imagine it must have been extremely important to the doctor or why else would he have all the security."  
  
"Well there were two small squared slits in the shelf that is raised up, we assume what was ever kept there in those slits was taken. I agree it must have been pretty important to go through all that trouble and all the security." Mitch says.  
  
"Well what about the neighbors, they couldn't have not heard or seen anything. There must have been a struggle or weapons being fired at the least."  
  
"Well they claim they didn't see or hearre anythinghear anything. But the funny thing about that is one of the neighbors that lives a few houses down said she heard gun shot type sounds coming from inside his house. She says she was walking her dog by his house at the time when she heard raised voices and then the shots.,shots. gGrantedgranted she is 76 years old, woman but she's still aware enough to know what's going on around her. They told her they would investigate but her claims were discarded and never pursued at all." Mitch said.  
  
"So you're telling me that there was a witness and her claims were dismissed. Then that would mean the neighbors gave false statements and miss led the public to cover up what ever went on there that night. They must have been in on it too. What ever this guy was into that got him killed must have been big. By the way what was his full name? The news and papers refer to him as Oyama." I said.  
  
"I haven't told you his name yet have I, it's Doctor Oyama, Doctor Lee Oyama. He's from Japan and came over here to the Country to pursue his research."  
  
"Is there anything else I should know about this guy, actually I'm afraid to ask?" As I said this I looked down at my watch and noticed the time, it was almost seven o'clock.  
  
"Yeah there's one more thing, Oyama had a..." As Mitch began to say this I interrupted him.  
  
"Look at the time it's nearly seven o'clock, I have to go I'll catch up with you later." As I stood up and walked out I noticed the waitress was on the phone and she kept giving us these strange looks. At the time I thought nothing of it but I should've known better.  
  
"I left Jake's at about 6:50 p.m. and it took me 20 minutes to get to my other appointment across town. As I pulled into the parking lot of General Hospital,[[need a better hospital name]] I couldn't help but think about what Mitch told me. I got out of my car and went into the hospital and took the elevator to the sixth floor and walked to her office."  
  
(Knocks twice)""Hello Samantha are you here?" I knocked, and then went into the office when there was no answer.  
  
"What took you so long, you're ten minutes late?" Samantha said as she stood up from her desk and walked to the door.  
  
"Sorry I had another appointment and it took longer than I thought. (He closes the door and sits down)" I said to my psychologist friend named Samantha.  
  
"Well why did you want to see me? It better be important,." sShe said.  
  
"Yeah it is, you know that doctor that was murdered in his home last night." ?"  
  
"(Walks back to her desk) Yeah it's been all over the news and in the papers, but what could you possibly have to do with him. You're an accountant and he's a world reknownedrenowned scientist." Samantha says.  
  
"Thanks a lot Sam, your confidence in me to make sophisticated friends touches's me.  
  
"Well you know me don't you." Samantha jokingly said.  
  
"Yeah so what's you point?"  
  
"Anyway so you know the doctor huh." Samantha said.  
  
"Well see that's just it I don't know him or at least I don't think I know him."  
  
"You're not making any sense, either you know him or you don't. How can you not know if you know him or not?"whether you know him?"  
  
"That's the thing, I've been having these flash backs and he's in them. That's why I need your help,help; you can hypnotize me and dig through my sub conscience to find out where they're coming from." I said.  
  
"So you have been having flash backs of this guy and you want me to put you under to see if you're suppressing any relevant information. Alright if it's that important to you to find out, what's his name?"  
  
"Doctor Oyama, DdoctorDoctor Lee Oyama. He is a doctor from Japan that came over to pursue some research. He worked for the military." Logan said.  
  
"Ok now lay down on the couch, (Logan gets up from his seat and lays down on this long black couch. She gets up from her desk and sits down next to him) take a deep breath and tell me about your flash- backs." Samantha said.  
  
"Well in the first one that I had I was in some kind of laboratory and I was strapped to a table. Oyama was standing over me and he began to talk with another person with a white coat on. But I can't make out what they'rerethey're saying. The second one I'm in a laboratory again but this time I'm surrounded by water, I'm in some kind of tank. I can see the doctor standing in front of me and a bunch of other people in white coats in the background. He is speaking again but I can't make out what he is saying. In the third flash back I'm running through the forest, than I fall to the ground, I turn over and see a man and a woman standing over me. ThaenThen everything just goes black again." Logan said.  
  
"That's interesting, so Oyama is not in the third flash back then?" Samantha says.  
  
"No he wasn't in the last one only the first two, just those two people were there in the last flash back."  
  
"Ok, now I'm going to pull this watch out of my pocket and I want you to follow it and count backwards from 100 until you get to one. Can you do that for me Logan.Logan?" Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah I can do that, 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91." By the time I got to 90 I was out like a light.  
  
"Now I want you to go back Logan, go back to the first flashback of you being in the lab and strapped to the table." Samantha said.  
  
"Ok I'm there back at the lab, what's next. "." Logan said.  
  
"Now I want you to try and remember the things that are around you. Try to remember people or objects that might be a clue as to where you are and what's being done to you."  
  
"I see the doctor standing over you and he's talking to someone else who's standing on my left." Logan said.  
  
"Whom is he talking to? Does this man have aan employee badge or some type of name tag or a way to identify who he is?" Samantha asked  
  
"A man, in a white coat. I can see a badge but can't make out what it says."  
  
"Can you make out what they're saying to one another?" Samantha says.  
  
"No, I can't herear a thing, it's all just some kind of gibberish." Logan responded  
  
"Concentrate and try to hear what they'rerethey're saying, really try to focus in on their words"  
  
"They're talking about me, at least I think they are." Logan said.  
  
"What were the results of the preliminary tests?" Oyama says to the other Doctor.  
  
"He is a perfect candidate for the procedure. Physically he's in good shape." The Doctor said to Oyama.  
  
"What about mMentallymentally, can he be broken down and put back together flawlessly?" Oyama asked  
  
"Mentally he will be more of a challenge but it can be done, with a little work. Given it will take longer but it shouldn't be a problem." The Doctor to said to Oyama.  
  
"Good, we need to start the procedure at once. Nurse, prep Mr. Logan for procedure. You may administer the anesthesia now and have him moved to laboratory 3 when you are finished." Oyama said to a nurse in the lab.  
  
"Yes doctor." The Nurse said to Oyama as she turns a knob on some kind of tank. Than she puts a clear mask over his face and the anesthesia knocks Logan unconscious.  
  
"And that's all I can remember before they put me under and everything went black again." Logan said.  
  
"That's good, you did good. Now do you recognize any of the other people in the background?"  
  
"No, Wait I see a young girl in the back who seems familiar to me but I don't know why. I can't make out her face it's not all that clear." Logan said to her.  
  
"Good you have seen a familiar face. But what about the room, is there anything there that might clue you in on where you are being kept? Like where the lab is?" Samantha inquired.  
  
"No not really anything, there's a lot of computer equipment and other lab stuff like micro scopes and things." Logan said.  
  
"Are the computer screens on, is there anything on them that you can make out?" She said to me.  
  
"I can see the closest one to me has a blank screen. The next one over has some kind of equations on it. One other or two have an image of a body on them with a line going up and down and the image moving around in a circle. The far right computer that the woman is working on has a file open. I think I can make out the name, it says Project. It says Project Fore Horsemen. Than there's another window that has a sub title of Project Fore Horsemen-Weapon X and that's all I can make out." Logan vaguely remembers.  
  
"So you recognize a woman, you read the name Project Fore Horseman and the name Weapon X. That's good but now I want to move on to the second flash back and see what you can remember from that. Go back to the memory of being in the tank and looking through the glass. Now tell me what you see." Samantha said  
  
"I see the doctor looking at me and saying something out loud to the others in the room." Logan said.  
  
"Ok now look around and see if you recognize anyone's face, does anyone look familiar to you." She said.  
  
"Well I see some more people in white coats standing at computer terminals. No wait, I see the same woman in the far right towards the back."  
  
"What is she doing? Anything significant?" Samantha said  
  
"She's looking at me, directly at me."  
  
"How so? Is she happy, sad, mad, any expression on her face at all?" Samantha says.  
  
"She's looking directly at me and she's crying. Why is she crying, who is this woman? And why is she crying?" Logan replies.  
  
"Ok we have established she crying, so now what is she doing physically?"  
  
"She's at a terminal and the screen reads Ti-nium-feed. I can't see the middle letters; it has the same image of the body spinning around but this time the body parts are being randomly highlighted. It's blurry but I see him turning to the right and saying something to a man in a booth and then things just go blank again. I'm sorry but that's all I can remember." Logan said  
  
"No, No, youryou're doing extremely well, I've never seen someone recall memories or flashbacks with such great detail before, it's rather amazing. Now I want you to go to the third flash back. Where are you?"  
  
"Well I'm running through the woods in the snow, and there are a lot of trees and bushes and leaves around." Logan describes.  
  
"What is around you besides trees, can you see any buildings or people?" She said.  
  
"Well trees naturally but wait there's a red-orange glow that's lighting everything up and the sky too. Than I just fall to the ground face first and then I roll over. I don't know what hit me but I'm getting sleepy, very sleepy."  
  
"Ok you said you rolled over, so you must be able to see what was behind you."  
  
"Its blurry but I think I can see a building in the distance. It has that same glow about it and I see these little figures moving around near it." Logan said.  
  
"Now what do you see, is there anything else you can make out?" She said.  
  
"No, my vision'ssvision's getting even more blurry and I'm sleepy. All I can see are these two figures that came up to me. One looks like a man and the other a woman but that's when everything goes blank."  
  
"I wonder who those people are and what this weapon X is?" Samantha said.  
  
"Just theanthen another flash hit me but this time it was different than the others. I'm dressed in a black suit and I'm running. I have these guys in tan suites chasing me and shooting at me. I hop over this group of crates and I pull out two laser pistols and I pop up and start shooting at the men. I'm returning fire at them and one by one they begin to fall. More are coming from the left, my heart is pounding and my adrenalinadrenaline is flowing, it's the most amazing feeling I've ever felt, I never felt like this before, so intense. I move to the right as fast as a cat, with lasers flying all around me. My reflexes are amazing, I never seen anyone move like that before. I mange to dodge every single shot being fired at me, not one blast so much as grazed me. I start running and I jump over some more crates but as I do I turn in mid air and pull out some kind of explosive device, grenades I think and toss them their way. A massive explosion ensues due to the grenades and the men get tossed into the air."  
  
"I hop over the crates and make my way over to a building, avoiding searchlights and more guards. I can hear footsteps like they were right next to me, so I duck behind a corner. A few seconds later a man passes by and as the man passes by I grab him and snap his neck and take his laser riffle. I leave the body there and proceed onto the building. It's a medium sized gray building. I am right outside the door and can see these blobs of red and yellow through the walls and hear their conversation. So I bust in and draw my weapons I take out the two guards on the right, I holster the guns and simultaneously draw two knives and through them at the other two as they draw their weapons."  
  
"There are two men left and they look like they've seen a ghost, theiy'rethey're afraid. I can sense their fear like some kind of animal. One slowly reaches for a weapon and I react by pulling out one pistol and shoot him through the heart. The other is making a run for it, I quickly pursue him and stab him with a needle in the neck and he is knocked unconscious. I pick him up and throw him over my shoulders and exit the room. But before I leave I drop three devices on the floor and I start to run. They spot me and begin to pursue me firing at me, just than the room explodes and their temporally distract long enough to make my way through a hole in the fence and put into a waiting vehicle in the woods and we drive off."  
  
"Do you recognize the guy you kidnapped?" Samantha asks.  
  
"No, I've never seen him before in my life." Logan replies.  
  
"Well he must have been pretty important for you to go through all that trouble of nearly getting yourself killed. We need to find out who this Oyama was and what he was was he into that got him killed. There has to be a connection between him and you. It seems he performed some kind of experiment on you. We also need to determine who that woman was and how she knows or knew you and her relationship to all of this. It appears your are or were some kind of covert opps. aAgent and a damn good one at that." sShe said.  
  
"Yeah it looks that way doesn't it but there's still missing pieces to this puzzle and I need to find out what those pieces are."  
  
"It seems that these flash backs or rather memories have been suppressed some how by either you or someone else who doesn't what you to remember." She said.  
  
"Then that would mean that I know information I shouldn't know. Information that might have gotten the doctor killed. Maybe what ever he was involved in had to do with me in some way. We are after all connected in some way but how?" Logan said.  
  
"Hum that does pose and interesting dilemma. You mentioned you had met with a friend of yours earlier, who was this friend?" Samantha said.  
  
"It was Mitch Buchanan,Buchanan; he heads up the homicide division at the police station. I met with him to get more information about the good doctorsdoctor's murder."  
  
"And did you learn anything useful?" Samantha asked.  
  
"Yeah I sure did, I found out some very interesting things about the good doctor."  
  
"Yes he was a renowned bio genetic evolution alterations expert,expert; I've read some of his work in medical journals." Samantha says.  
  
"So you know his work then?" Logan said.  
  
"I have heard of him through the medical community and what I've read in journals but I've never met him personally. I did attend a conference some time ago with him." She said.  
  
"Really, what was the conference about?" Logan inquires.  
  
"It was called "Human Evolution Past, Present and Future." He lectured about how humans have evolved over the years to their present state today and how humans will theoretically evolve in the years to come." Samantha said.  
  
"Hum that's interesting,interesting; I had no idea to the extantextent of his research. When was the last time you heard about him?" Logan asked.  
  
"Oh about 5 years ago he dropped out of sight. The rumor was he was recruited by the military for some super secret project and had to go into hiding. As too what work he did for them no one knew, only that it was classified."  
  
"Does the pPhrasephrase HyndsHinds Blood mean anything to you? Does it ring any bells?" I said to her.  
  
"HyndsHinds blood, no I've never heard of the term before, why do you ask?" Samantha replies.  
  
"I over heard some men talking about some kind of project called Hynds blood and that it was neutralized. I think they killed Oyama because of it." Logan said.  
  
"Well we can look it up on my computer's data base to see if anything comes up. Here I'll show you (she walks over to her computer and opens aan encyclopedia program, Logan follows her and stands behind her looking over her shoulder), this is an encyclopedia program. I'll type in the word Hynds Blood and see what comes up. (A few seconds pass) Ok see there's one match found, I'll click on it to see what it says. Here's what it says:  
  
Hynds were mythical creatures in ancient Greek mythology and legends. They were half human and half deer creatures. Once they roamed free through out the earth by the thousands. They were peaceful and gentle creatures that lived off the land. That was until it was discovered by the Olympian gods of ancient Greece, that their blood could kill a god. A minor god killed one of them with a dagger and used the blood on the dagger to poison and kill the other gods. He wanted to take power for himself and rule the gods and earth. But the others stopped him eventually. They all banned together and used their combined power to subdue him. They banished him to Hades. Zeus couldn't destroy the dagger because of the blood so he placed it in a cave inside a mountain and sealed the cave. But as long as Hynds existed they were a threat to him and the gods, even if they meant no harm to anyone, man or god. He used his lighting bolts to kill them all. He fried thousands of innocent Hynds. But one managed to escape Zeus's wrath and a human king hid her on his land, safe from Zeus and the other gods.  
  
But that didn't last long because Aries the god of war,war discovered her and had a human warlord hunt her down and kill her with a dagger. He used the dagger to try to take power for him self. Hercules was married to this Hynd and sought revenge upon Aries for the murder of his wife. The dagger was eventually used to kill Zeus when he tried to destroy the child of darkness. Hercules plunged it into his fathers back and killed him. After the other gods who remained, separated and went on there own. Some were never heard from again. That's the gistjistgist of it, but what this has to do with you or that conversation you over heard, I don't know." She said.  
  
"No we need more information and we need to find out who those guys were." Logan said  
  
"How do you plan on doing that? I don't think you can just walk right  
up and ask them."  
  
" I"I don't know, I have to track Oyama's last steps that led up to his death, to find out what he was into. I know this goes deep, very deep. It involves the Justice Department, so if it involves them, than how much further does this go up the ladder. It's a scary thought to think that they can do something like this." I said.  
  
"Yes it is isn't it, what will they do next, how far will they go? If you need me I'll be glad to help in anyway I can."  
  
"Thank you I really appreciate it, (Just then I noticed on the TV something I wish I hadn't) would you mind turning up the TV for me, thanks."  
  
(News)  
  
"Earlier tonight Police Detective Mitch Buchanan was killed in a car accident. His car broke through a guardrail on Canyon Ave. and plunged into a ravieneravine and exploded. Police are all over this apparent accident; we now go live to our reporter on the scene Randy Johnson. Randy what have you found out?" Lena Ngyuen.  
  
"Well Lena, Detective Buchanan was speeding down this windy road when he lost control of his late model pickup and careened into this ravieneravine, where his car burst into flames. Now witnesses say he hit the sharp turn you see behind me at too high a speed. They also said that he was driving erratically, as if he was intoxicated. They said once the truck went over the cliff moments later they say a ball of fire came bursting up from the ravieneravine. I'm joined now by one of those witnesses. So Mr. Sanchez can you tell us more about what happened here earlier tonight." Randy said.  
  
"Yeah, I was out watering my front lawn when I heard tires screaming and a loud engine noise, as if someone was speeding up the road. Then a few seconds later this pickup truck comes up the road and I knew it was Mitch; he lives just up the road. I shouted out to him slow down because I knew he was never goanna make that turn. Than he hit the rail and went over and seconds later boom." Mr. Sanchez described.  
  
"Now by boom what do you mean exactly?" Randy said.  
  
"I mean there was an explosion and a big ball of fire came up from the ravieneravine. The rest of us came out and hoped Mitch got out ok, but it looks like he didn't. He was really a standup kinda guy, you know what I mean." Mr. Sanchez said  
  
"Yes we all know what you mean, we know what you mean indeed. Mitch Buchanan was only 35 years old and he is survived by his wife and two children, he will be surely missed indeed..(He pauses) Live from South Hills this is Randy Johnson reporting."  
  
"A tragic end to such a wonderful and promising life. I'm Lena Ngyuen for K-Cal nine news, we'll be right back." LeenaLena said.  
  
"They got to him too, they killed Mitch." I said.  
  
"Who? You think the same people who killed Oyama killed Mitch?" Dr. Samantha said.  
  
"I know Mitch and he doesn't drunkdrink, I just met with him a while ago and he didn't have a druink, not one drop of alcohol." Logan said.  
  
"Then why would they say he was intoxicated? Why would they lie?" Samantha said.  
  
"Their trying to cover it up, but why Mitch? I got to go, would you be all right?"  
  
"Yes I'll be fine, go, you have your own things to take care of." Samantha said.  
  
"So I left and I knew something didn't feel right about all this, it was some kind of set up. I was sure of it but how to prove it was the hard part. I checked into a hotel for the night. I didn't want to go home and make it easier for these guys, who ever they are to find me. I also called Samantha and advised her to do the same because there was no telling who was next. So she did, she stayed with her mom just outside of town. I couldn't sleep that night; I kept going over it all-trying to figure out what this all means. I didn't come up with anything new. I could only imagine how Lese was taking it. So I had planned to call her, she was out of town with the kids and came back early." Logan said.  
  
Chapter Two  
"All I Wanted"  
  
"I couldn't help but think about my fallen friend. What if I never had gotten him involved in all this, would he still be alive? Would those beautiful children still have a father? I never wanted any one to get hurt because of me. All I wanted was a normal and happy life. The kind with a wife, two point five kids and the house with the white picket fence. But that dream seems so far away, now more than ever before. I asked myself why me, why did this have to happen to me, why now? Everything I have known up until now is a lie. What is my real life like? Do I have parents, brothers and sisters? Did I have a happy home, a happy and loving childhood.childhood? The childhood I always dreamed of, the childhood I always wanted. That's all I wanted as a child but I never got, until Mitch and his family came along. Whatever the truth, the real truth, I will find out, no one will stop me from that. I knew only that I couldn't trust my memories, I didn't know which were real and which were fake."  
  
"But I couldn't think about that now, it was the next morning and I was going to go about business as usual, so I wouldn't tip any one off that I knew more than I was letting on. So I went to work, I was sadder than usual because that was expected of me. Everyone gave me their condolences because they knew we where were friends but they didn't know how far back went. Than after lunch something strange happened on my way back to my desk." Logan said.  
  
" Hey"Hey Logan can we talk for a second." said Robby.  
  
"Yeah, what is it Robby" I said as I walked over to Robby who was talking with someone I'd never seen before around the office, so I thought maybe he was new.  
  
"I heard about your friend Mitch, I'm sorry for what happened to him, I saw the news," Robby said.  
  
"Thanks Robby, so am I. Wwho'sWho's your friend?"  
  
"Oh I'm sorry how rude of me, Miles Logan this is Mike Vanderjack, Mike Vanderjack this is my friend Miles Logan."  
  
"Please to meet youmeet you Mike, I'm Logan." I said to him as I looked at him.  
  
"Same here Miles." Mike said.  
  
"You'll do good to watch this guy operate, you'll learn a lot from him. He's one of our best knew accountants. He landed our firm some of our biggest clients." Robby said.  
  
"Did he now, that's great, I'm sure I can learn a lot from a man like him. A whole lot of information from a stand up guy like yourself Logan." Mike said.  
  
"Yeah I'm sure you could also." I said as I thought to myself that's an unusual choice of words.  
  
"So Logan, did Mitch tell you about cases he was working on? I mean you guys were close right? I know people who are close talk a lot to one another." Mike inquired.  
  
"Hey Mike come on, he just lost a good friend of his, lay off all right." Robby says to Mike.  
  
"Well I mean they were good friends maybe they discussed his cases." Mike said.  
  
"No he didn't talk about his cases, he was a professional." Logan said.  
  
"Not even his last case? I mean the guy did meet with such a tragic end." Mike replied.  
  
"Yeah, so anyway I gotta go, I'll see you guys later." Logan said in an awkwardquaawkward ward ttonetone, than he walks away.  
  
After work I went back to the hotel and called Samantha to see if she was all right. She said that nothing out of the ordinary happened to her. So I asked her to meet me later at Jakes. But first I had some other business to take care of. I figured out that they went after Mitch because of his copy of the police file he had. But I guess they didn't find it. So they killed him because he knew totoo much. I thought maybe his partner could help me. So I called his partner and asked him to meet me in the park. I was sitting down on the park bench when he walked right up to me.  
  
"So why did you call me here." Mathew says as he sits down next to Logan on the park bench.  
  
"I need some information about Mitch, that only you have." I said.  
  
"What do you want to know that you don't already know? What do I know?"  
  
"I need to know if he said anything to you before he died, any thing out of the ordinary?"  
  
"Like what exactly do you mean?" Mathew said.  
  
"Like anything out of the ordinary"  
  
"No nothing I can recall that stands out." Mathew said to Logan.  
  
"When was the last time you seen saw him?" I said.  
  
"Well he came to my apartment around 8:00 o'clock at night."  
  
"Eight at night? So he must have wentgone gone to see you right after I left him." I said.  
  
"So you met with him that night too?"  
  
"Yeah earlier in the night. Why did he say he was there to see you?" Logan asked.  
  
"He said he was in the neighborhood and had bought a new antique jewelry box for his wife that he wanted to show me."  
  
"He said he was in the neighborhood?"  
  
"Yeah he said he was in the neighborhood and thought he would stop by." said Mathew.  
  
"Last time I saw him washim was at Jakes and Jakes is no where near where you live." I said.  
  
"Come to think of it he didn't even have the jewelry box with him to show me, all he had was a key he gave to me." Mathew said.  
  
"Do you have the key he gave you with you?"  
  
"Yeah right here. He said as he takes it out of his pocket and gives it to Logan.  
  
"Did he tell you what the key was too?" I said.  
  
"No, all he did was give it to me and tell me to take care of it. Not to tell anyone that I had it and to keep it in a safe place because he might need it later." Mathew said.  
  
"Thanks Matt, you've been a big help." Logan says as he gets up from the park bench and walks away.  
  
I left the park and wondered what the key he gave to Mathew was for? Then I thought about what Mathew said that Mitch said to him. I was in the neighborhood, why would he be in the neighborhood? He would have had to have gone straight to Mathew's house after Jakes. Than there was the jewelry box, his wife doesn't wear enough jewelry to have a box. So then why did he buy the box, what was the real reason he bought the box? So I decided to go to Mathew's neighborhood for a drive. I drove up and down the block and up the street. I had driven around a few times until I saw it, THE NEIGHBORHOOD STORAGE. It was a public storage place called The Neighborhood Storage. Could that have been what he meant buy in the neighborhood.neighborhood? It was the best lead I had to go on, so I decided to go in and see if he had a locker or some kind of safety box. I went in and approached the girl at the counter.  
  
"Hi how are, my name is William I'm trying to find out where this key goes, if it goes to a locker or something." I said.  
  
"Do you have id?" The woman asked Logan  
  
"No, I don't." Logan replied.  
  
"Then I can't let you in."  
  
"All right I'll level with you, my friend owns the locker, he died and left me the key. WhatsWhat's inside could be a clue about who killed him. I'm just trying find his killer. So please can you help me?"  
  
"Well all right, go ahead but you only have five minutes. Let me see the key (she takes the key Logan pulled out from his pocket), oh yeah this key belongs to locker six. It's straight ahead, when you get to the end make a right and go down about ten feet." The lady said.  
  
"Thanks very much, straight ahead turn right and go down ten feet." I said.  
  
So I went down the hallway and all I saw were a bunch of lockers. I got to the end and made a right. I came to locker six; it was about as tall as a shoebox and as wide as one. There was a pad lock on it, so I pulled out in the key, put it in the lock and turned it. It did fit the lock and unlocked it. So I took off the lock and opened the locker door. There was a jewelry box inside just like Mitch told Matthew about. It was brown with black trim. I took it out and opened it; there was a pair of earrings and a necklace inside. But there was also was a piece of paper with the words red nu kool written on it. I was puzzled as to what the meaning was and I thought it was Latin or something.  
  
But then I looked at it again and knew he was trying to tell me something, thenand then I remembered he liked to spell and say words backward, he was rather good at it. So I spelled it backwardsbackward in my head and it spelled out look under. So I figured it meant that there was something hidden under in a secret compartment. But I couldn't figure out how to open the compartment. I looked at the box and saw these symbolssymbols carved on themcarved symbols it, they looked like roses. I felt each one and one of them in the middle in the front, felt loose. I turned it to the right and all of a sudden the box split in half and the top half popped up. It revealed a smaller hidden bottom half with a floppy disc in it. So I took the disc, closed the box and put back in the locker. Locked it up just like it was before,before; I proceeded to leave the place.  
  
"Thank You miss for your help" I said.  
  
"No problem William, glad I could be of some help." She said back to me.  
  
I left the building and got into my car. As I was driving off I saw two men in black suites enter the building. They looked very suspicious but I didn't want them to see me their there so I drove off and went back to my hotel.  
  
(They both walk up the steps and into the building) "Excuse me miss, I'm special agent Smith and this is special agent Jones (they show their badges), we're here to see if you've seen this man (they show a picture of Logan to the woman)" Agent Smith said.  
  
"Why do you want to know? Is he a criminal or in some kind of trouble?" She said.  
  
"No we're just looking for him, to ask him a few questions. So have you seen him?" Agent Jones says.  
  
"Well he does look familiar but then again a lot of people look familiar. So many come through here everyday it's really hard to tell.," she said. (They both look at one another and then her)  
  
"Thank yYouyou for all your help miss, if you think of anything else please give us a call" said Agent Smith (he hands her his card and they leave).  
  
"She's lying, she has seen him and seen him very recently." Smith says.  
  
"Yes she was, she definitely seen him. Her words are lies but her thoughts are the truth." Jones says to Smith.  
  
"But what was he doing here, I wonder?" Said Smith  
  
"Do you think he was here for to retreaveretrieve it? Perhaps he figured out where Mitch hid it." Jones said.  
  
"Yes that is why he was here and he now has it. We must find him and soon. He is getting closer to discovering the truth." Agent Smith said.  
  
"Yes he is and if he does, everything we have worked for these ten years will go up in smoke." Agent Jones says.  
  
"Yes, we can't let that happen, we are so close to acheivingachieving our ultimate goal. No one knows we are involved but if he firguresfigures it out, he will expose it and expose us. We just missed him,him; we are steps behind him and will catch him soon.  
  
"Yes perhaps but every moment he is free he jeopardizes the mission. Come on letslet's get back to base and report in." Jones said. (They walk back down the steps and walk a few steps down the street and stop at a black SUV and get in and drive away.)  
  
When I got back to the hotel the one thing on my mind was too find out what was on that disc. But first I needed a computer to access the disc. I had a laptop back at my apartment. I was a little uneasy about going back, what if they knew what I was doing and were waiting for me?.? I had to go, it was the only way. So I did, I waited across the street in my car to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. There was no one that seemed unusual in sight. I figured it was all clear, so I got out of my car and went up the steps inside the building. My apartment was in the forth floor so I was going to take the elevator but thought the stairs was a better idea. I got to the forth floor and walked out the main stairway.  
  
I took a look around the hallway, nothing unusual, everything the same as it always is. So I walked down the hall to apartment 3D, it looked like no one had been in my apartment. The door hadn't been kicked in and the lock wasn't picked either, at least as far as I can tell, so I put my key in and opened the door. I went in and took a look around. Everything was exactly where I had left it. So I knew no one had been in my place and if they did get in they didn't touch anything, which defeats the purpose of going through the trouble of breaking in.  
  
Maybe they were watching to see if I came home but when I didn't maybe they figured I would eventually and they could catch me when I do. If that was true I knew I had to hurry up. My laptop was on the coffee table, I packed it up and packed a bag of clothes and other things I needed. You know just for a couple of days or so I thought at the time. I also took my copy of the Oyama file out of my safe in the apartment. I took one last look out the window to see if there was anything wrong and again nothing, everything was as it should be. So I left and locked up the apartment. I took the main stairway again but this time I left through the back door of the building. In case some one saw me go in through the front, they won't know that I left.  
  
I walked out and looked to my left and my right and proceed to go left to the corner. I walked around the corner to the other corner of the block, where I can see my car. No was near my car, so I crossed the street and walked up to my car. I opened the trunk and put the bags in and I shut the truck. I got back in my car and drove back to the hotel. I was very careful,careful; I took side streets and allies, so I knew that no one would be able to follow me.  
  
I brought my bags inside the room and set up my laptop to see just what was on that disc. I put the disc in and opened it. The disc had several files on it. One was titled Oyama. I thought could this be the same file he gave to me?.? He did tell me to make a copy of it on disc. So I opened it and it was the same file that he gave to me. I closed it and looked at the other files on the disc. The next file was titled IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. I found that to be odd because the same phrase was used again but what did it mean this time. I tried to open it like I did with the Oyama file but this one was pass coded and I didn't have the passcode. The next two files were titled, "Project Hynds Blood and Project Four Horsemen." I tried to open those as well and they too were pass- coded. I sat there trying to think what the password could be. I tried his wife and children's names, his name and his birthday but no dice.  
  
Damn what could this password be, I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time to meet with Samantha, so I hid the disc and left. I met up with her around 8:15 p.m. at Jakes. She was already there waiting for me at a table, I went up to the table and sat down.  
  
"Hi thanks for coming, I'm glad your alright" I said.  
  
"Thanks, I can say the same for you. So what's up? , I assume you found something new or you wouldn't have called me here." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah but not here, you brought your car?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yes of course I did." Samantha said.  
  
"Good come were going back to my hotel room and we'll take your car." Logan said.  
  
So we got up and left Jakes, the hotel wasn't too far from there. We got into the car and drove away but we weren't the only ones.  
  
"So where are we going anyway?" Samantha said.  
  
"To my hotel, I need your help with something." I said to her.  
  
"Yeah I know you told me but how do we get there? Which hotel are you staying at?" Samantha asks.  
  
"Just make a right at the next light and go straight and I'll tell you when to stop."  
  
"Ok but why?" Samantha asked.  
  
"I think we're being followed. That black SUV has been following us ever since we left Jakes. I just want to be sure if we're being followed or not, so we don't lead them to what there looking for." I said.  
  
"Ok but where are we going now, if we aren't going to your hotel yet?" Samantha said.  
  
"To a nightclub called Far Out, we'll be able to loose them there. Make a left at this light. Park right here on the side." Samantha makes the turn and they park along the sidewalk.  
  
"Are they still behind us?" Samantha asked.  
  
"Yup, two guys in black suits that I saw earlier. Come on lets go inside, I think you'll like it." I said as we got out car and go inside the club and the two men follow them in. They get a table and the two men get a table about 15 feet away in plain sight. Samantha it's isit's in front of Logan with her back turned to the men. As the two men sit side by side facing Logan and Samantha.  
  
"Where are they? Did they follow us in?" Samantha says.  
  
"There at the table to the right about 17 feet away." Logan responds.  
  
"Are they staring at us?"  
  
"If they were staring any harder they burn a hole in the wall. You want anything to drink?" I said.  
  
"Yeah, get me a beer." Samantha said.  
  
"You want a beer? I thought you were more refined than that, you know red wine and champagne." Logan sarcastically says.  
  
"I can lower myself to your beer belly and belching nature if need be." She sparingly responds.  
  
(Logan gets up and goes to the bar, one of the two men follow him to the bar)  
  
"Yeah I'll take two beers (bartender gets them for him. The man in the black suite also orders two beers), thanks a lot man. (Logan pulls his wallet out form his back pocket and pays him and then walks back to the table and the man in the black suite does the same) Here you go," (hands her one beer)" Logan said.  
  
"Thanks, this is an interesting club you've brought me too." Samantha said  
  
"It's a space theme,theme; the lights and the black background give you a feeling like your out in space doesn't it?" I said.  
  
"Yes it does, I like it, so what do you want to do now?" Samantha said.  
  
"Well why don't we dance, after all we are in a dance club." Logan said.  
  
"Dance, you?. You don't strike me as the dancing type." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah that's what people usually do in a dance club. And I have been known to cut a little rug from time to time." I said.  
  
"Ok but are you sure you can keep up with me?" Samantha says jokingly.  
  
"Oh I think I'll manage all right." Logan wittingly responds. (They both get up and go to the dance floor, as the two men just watch their every move. They get to the dance floor and begin to dance)  
  
"You're a pretty good dancer for an accountant, who would have thought." Samantha said.  
  
"Ouch, you're a pretty good dancer for a shrink, who would have thought." Logan responds.  
  
"Are our two shadows still there?" Samantha said.  
  
"Yup still there but not for long. Here's what we're going to do, when I tell you we're going to move left to become more mixed in with the crowd. Than when we are and they can't see us so well, we'll slip out the other side of the crowd and out the back, got it?" I said.  
  
"I think so, you sure it'll work?" Samantha asks.  
  
"No but we've got nothing to loose. Ready, now move to your left (They move to the left and go deeper into the crowd of people until they are no longer visible to the two men). Come on they can't see us, lets get out of here (They proceed to leave out the back entrance of the club)." I said.  
  
"Hey where did they go? They disappeared." Man one said to Man Two.  
  
"What, they'erthey're right there on the dance floor" Man Two said.  
  
"No there they're gone, they must have ducked out." Man One said.  
  
"What! Come on we got to find them. (They get up and go into the crowd and on the dance floor. They bump into a large man who is dancing with his girlfriend. He turns around and is upset that they bumped into him and didn't say excuse me). Man two said.  
  
"Hey what the fuck," Large man says to the two men in black suits.  
  
"Do you see them anywhere in here?" Man two said.  
  
"No but it's hard to see because of the dimmed lights. It looks like we lost them." Man one said.  
  
"The back entrance, they probably slipped out the back. Come let's go., (They proceed to leave when the large man grabs Man One on the shoulder)" Mango," Man Two said.  
  
"Hey I was talking to you, now I'm going to beat the hell out of you." Large Man says. (Man one turns around)  
  
"I don't have time for this shit,shit; I have other matters to tend to." Man One says. (He grabs the Large Man on his shoulder. The Large Man arrogantly looks down at his hand on his shoulder and smiles. Than he takes a swing at Man One but he ducks and than grabs him by the neck and flings him across the room into some tables 20 feet away. Everyone looks in amazement at what they just saw. The large man gets up and charges Man One like a rhino. Man One jumps into the air and swings his right leg in a half circle motion and kick's the face of the Large Man. Man One punches him in the stomach, then in the face and breaks his nose. His face is full of blood and he is out of it. Man One does another swing kick to his face but this time the Large Man spins around once and hits the floor, he's out cold. Security comes but doesn't dare mess with the two men. They just turn and walk right out the club to the street, only to find Logan and Samantha have already left the area and are no where to be found.)  
  
"Damn, they got away." Man One says. (Man two takes out a hand held computerized device and makes a video call to someone. On his screen all that can be seen is a figure sitting in a chair with the lights dimmed to conceal his identity. His voice has also been altered by some kind of machine to sound like a computer voice.)  
  
"Jack and Jill gave us the slip." Man Two says to this figure in the dark on the screen of his hand held device.  
  
"They gave you the slip! Idiots! How could they give you guys the slip? Find them and do it now or its both your Hydeshides." The Strange Man said.  
  
"Yes sir, well find them, don't worry they could not have gotten far. (He puts the device away in his jacket pocket) Come on I think I know where they're going." Man Two says to Man One. (They both get into their vehicle and drive off as flashing lights and sirens can be herd in the background. Someone inside the club has called the police and an ambulance but by the time they get there the two men are long gone)  
  
After the club incident we knew they were on to us, who ever they were. So we went back to my hotel to take care of some more business. We were going to try to crack the codes on those files on Mitch's disc, to see what was so important that he would pass code them. We arrived at the hotel around nine thirty at night. We got out the car and the hole time from the car to the door we were looking over our shoulders, you know just incase. We approached my hotel door when the person in the room next to us came out.  
  
(Opens the door) "Logan, Logan" said the man in the room next door.  
  
"Yeah what do you want, I'm kind of in a hurry here." I said to him as Samantha just stood in the back minding her own business.  
  
"Oh I see, you and your lady friend back there want some time alone,e ,a" The Man says to me in a smug voice.  
  
"No it's not like that John." Logan responds.  
  
"Sure, sure, what ever you say Logan." John says in a doubtful tone.  
  
"Anyway what did you want in the first place?" I said to him with an annoyed tone.  
  
"Well I just thought you should know that today while I was in the lobby earlier today two guys came looking for you." John said.  
  
(Earlier in the day)  
  
(They walk into the lobby and push the man next door aside and walk up to the front desk)  
  
"Can I help you gentleman with something?" The desk clerk said.  
  
"Yes we need some information pertaining to a case we are currently working on. (They flash their badges)" Man one said.  
  
"What kind of information, I'm just a desk clerk at a hotel how much could I know?" Desk clerk said to the two men.  
  
"We need to know if you've seen this man." Man Two said. (Pulls out a picture of Logan and shows it to the clerk. He takes it from man two's hand and looks at it)  
  
"No, I don't believe I have. I see a lot of people around here everyday and no one particular man seems to stand out. But what I can do is take this picture and show it to some of the other clerks on the other shifts to see if they have seen this man. If anyone remembers him than I'll give you guys a call, do you have a card or something?" The clerk says.  
  
"Yeah here (takes a card from his jacket pocket and hands it to the clerk and the clerk take's it and keeps the picture), again if you or anyone else remembers or sees him in the future please remember to give us a call." Man two said.  
  
"Alright sorry I couldn't be more help to you boys." The clerk said to the two men as they left. On their way out they look at the man from next-door with a suspicious look and then kept on going out the door.  
  
"Anything?" Man Agent Smith said.  
  
"No, nothing, I couldn't read him. He must be one of us." Agent Jones said.  
  
"Yes, not very strong but strong enough to block both of us. We still have seventeen more hotels to check." Agent Smith said as they got into their car and take one last look at the clerk and the man next-door through the glass of the door of the lobby and then they just drive away.  
  
"And that's all that happened." John says.  
  
"What time did this happen?" I inquired to the next- doorman.  
  
"Well it was around eleven o'clock this morning." John said to Logan.  
  
"And Ralph didn't tell them anything right?" Logan asks.  
  
"No he said he had never heard or seen you before and it looks like they bought it. Ralph was real cool about it." John said.  
  
"Good, tell Ralph I said thanks and thanks to you too for not saying anything, I really appreciate it John." I said to John.  
  
"No problem but if you don't mind me asking who were those guys and what did they want with you? You seem like a nice man, what could guys like that possibly want with someone like you?" John said.  
  
"Don't ask John, I don't want you to get involved in this too. Just forget about it, forget you ever met me too. It'll be best that way and if anyone asks just say you never saw me before in your life." I said to him as I walked away and opened my hotel door and Samantha and I went in.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
"Never Die Alone"  
  
I closed the curtains because I didn't want anyone to see us, especially you know who.mwhom? We went over the diskcdisk trying to crack the code for an hour and no dice. So we turned on the television to relax and unwind so to speak. There was some sort of comedy show onWe We watched some sort of comedy show. It was pretty funny, I must admit but it was that one commercial that was interesting.  
  
It was for skin care product called Omega Red. It was just like any other commercial. They showed images of what this stuff can do for your skin by showing some model using the skin care cream on her face and how good it is for the skin. But when the lady said: "Omega Red. wWhy would you trust anything else with the health of your skin.?skin?" When I heard the word Omega Red I just froze and it triggered more flashbacks or rather memories.  
  
"Logan why don't you take a look at this, Logan? Aare you all right?" Samantha says as she turns around and sees Logan frozen just staring at the T.V, with a blank look on his face.  
  
"Logan can you here me, are you in there Logan, talk to me. Tell me what you see,see; tell me what you're going through." Samantha says to him in an attempt to get information on what's going on. But just when she thinks he is out of reach and cannot here hear her he begins to murmur words softly. She listens closely and find out he's saying to her what he is seeing and experiencing. Samantha grabs a pen and paper and writes it all down. But she can't keep up so she uses a tape recorder she uses to tape her sessions with clients.  
  
"Ok Four Horseman you have been recalled because I have another mission for you. You are to infiltrate a Russian Installation in Siberia. Intel has reported that the Russians are building secret missile silos somewhere on the planet and we need to know where. The silo project is being coordinated from the instillation in Siberia. We believe the missiles are being stored there until they are moved to their launch sight. This is a threat to our nation's national security and must be neutralized without delay. You four are the best, brightest and toughest around and the only ones that stand a chance of completing this mission. Your objectives are as follows:  
  
1.) To infiltrate the installation. andAnd be fore warned it is very heavily guarded. 2.) To confirm or deny if the missiles are being kept there until deployment and if so you are to destroy them. 3.) To discover the location of deployment and relay it back to us via comm. Satellite immediately. 4.) To neutralize any and all scientists associated with this project by any means necessary.  
  
Those are your objectives and I expect them to be carried out, even if it means to your death. This is not an easy mission but it can be done, so good luck to you all and I'll see you when you get back,.. Good Hunting to you,." aA m A Man in a military uniform says to Logan and three others as they watch images of their mission on a giant computer screen.  
  
"This man you are speaking of, what does he look like?" Samantha asks.  
  
"He is dressed in a military uniform." Logan said.  
  
"What color is the uniform he is wearing?" She inquires  
  
"ItsIt's a green uniform with stars on the shoulders. He is also wearing a hat on his head."  
  
"Does he have a name tag or some other way to identify who he is?" Samantha said.  
  
"There's a shiny rectangular shaped piece of metal on his chest but I can't make the whole thing out. It says Heg on it, that's all I can see the light is shining too bright on the pin, its reflecting back on my eyes." I said.  
  
"That's good keep going what else is going on now?" Samantha said.  
  
"Now the four of us are walking out of the room being led by the same man that was talking. We are walking down a corridor. We are now approaching this white door and we are stopping in front of it. The man puts his hand on a panel and then punches in a code and a noise sounds than he opens the door." Logan describes.  
  
"What do you see now? Wwhat's in the room?"  
  
"There are weapons, a lot of weapons. Guns of all shapes and sizes. Knives that have big blades and some that have small blades. There are bombs and grenades, different types of suites and helmets. I've never seen anything like it before." Logan said.  
  
"So itsit's some type of weapons locker. What are you and the others doing now?" Samantha said.  
  
"We're putting on these skin tight black suites and these black combat boots. One of the others is grabbing some guns from the rack and putting on this belt type thing around his waist and across his shoulders. He puts the guns inside holsters, which are attached to the belt. Now the other two are doing the same."  
  
"So you guys are getting suited up and arming yourselves for the mission." Samantha suggests.  
  
"Yes I believe so, now I'm walking up to a gun rack. I put the same belt on and filling the holsters with guns. One gun down on my ankle, another gun behind my back and two guns under my arms. I put knives at my waist and behind my back and grenades across my shoulders. Now I'm walking over to a table." Logan said.  
  
"What's on the table?" Samantha asks.  
  
"Some kind of electrical equipment. A little curved device. The others are grabbing them and putting them into their ears and taking these other small round devices and attaching them to the top of the suites. Now I'm doing the same thing."  
  
"You're putting on some type of communication device. What are you doing now?"  
  
"I'm grabbing some goggles with red clear plastic, instead of the normal clear plastic. They have buttons on the right side of them. I also grab this keypad and slip it onto my wrist. They're leaving the room now, I'm following them out the same door we came in through. We're walking down the hall and approach two large metal doors, with a big yellow five written on it. The General opens the door by pushing a button to the right of the doors." Logon said.  
  
"So you left the weapons locker and are approaching a hanger of some sort. Is there some type of plane or aircraft inside?"  
  
"Yes there's a triangular shaped aircraft inside, it's rather large." Logan describes.  
  
"What color is the aircraft?" Samantha said.  
  
"It's black, with red glass, I never seen aan aircraft shaped like that. It's probably some kind of stealth craft. There are two guys in black suits and black helmets standing next to it. Now the general is saying something."  
  
"I don't need to stress how important this mission is or else I wouldn't be sending you four, good luck to you all." The General says to the four of them.  
  
"Now what's going on?" Samantha says.  
  
"The others and the two men are boarding the aircraft from a door on the side. Now I'm getting on, I'm walking up some steps that are on the other side of the door. Now I'm inside the aircraft." Logan said.  
  
"What's inside the aircraft?" Samantha asks.  
  
"I see two chairs near the front, with computer equipment in front of the two seats. Behind them are four seats; the two men sit in the two front seats and everyone else sits in the other four seats. We all put our seat belts on. They're pushing some buttons and we're moving now."  
  
"Moving how so, are you beginning to take off?" she said.  
  
"It fells like we're floating on the air, this big metal door in front of the plane opens up and I can see the out side."  
  
"That's good, what do you see now?" Samantha said.  
  
"I see tresstrees,, a lot of trees,trees; we're moving forward now out of the hanger and out the big metal door. We're flying over the trees, now we are going higher and higher. We turn to the right and climb even higher into the clouds. All I see now is white fluffy material all around the plane. We're moving very fast, it feels like a roller coaster, only ever faster. One of the other is beginingbeginning to say something." Logan said.  
  
"Hey Saber tooth you ready to kick some ass?" The woman in the black suite said to the man in the black suite next to her in the two front seats among the group of the four.  
  
"She called him Saber tooth?" Samantha asks.  
  
"Yeah she did." Logan responds  
  
"What does he look like?" She inquires.  
  
"He's a big guy, tall and muscular,muscular; he has to be at least two hundred and eighty pounds." Logan said.  
  
"Oh yeah I'm ready Fox and I know you are." Saber Tooth said.  
  
"And what about you Striker, are you ready for some action?" Fox says.  
  
"This striker, what does he look like?"  
  
"He's aan average size man, with short black hair. All he does is just nod his head." Logan said.  
  
"What does this fox look like?" Samantha said to Logan.  
  
"She's beautiful, she has long brown silky hair, that's pinned back in a pony tail. Her skin is smooth like satin and a light brown color. She has black eyes and full lips. She one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen before. I feel some kind of affection for her when I look at her. I can't explain it, I just feel happy to see her." Logan said.  
  
"I know that X is ready to rock, isn't that right X?" Fox says to Logan.  
  
"Huh what? Did you say something?" Logan said to FfoxFox.  
  
"I said are you ready to rock?" Fox said.  
  
"What's a matter little man, you scared?" Saber Tooth said.  
  
"The only thing I am afraid of is your breathe,breath but of Tthe mission, is a piece of cake." Logan said to Saber Tooth.  
  
"He's right you know." Fox says.  
  
"About the mission?" Saber Tooth asks.  
  
"Yeah that too but I was talking about your breath. (They all laugh except for Saber Tooth)." Fox said jokingly.  
  
"We're here, let's get going." Saber Tooth said. (They all get out of their seats and walk over to the door on the side. The aircraft is hovering over a snowy drop sight.  
  
"What else do you see besides snow? What are the geographical features of the land?" Samantha said.  
  
"There are a lot of trees around too and mountains in the distance. It looks like it's a remote area, maybe Northern Russia. I think it might be Siberia or near there." Logan sSaidsaid.  
  
"What's happing now are you still hovering over the place, the drop sight?"  
  
"No, we are all jumping out of the aircraft and gliding down to the ground with these gliding parachutes. Now we've hit the ground and I'm detaching the chute." Logan said.  
  
"Alright we're here, lets rock and roll. You all know what to do. Keep your eyes and ears open. I don't want any unexpected surprises." Silver Fox says to the other team members. (They begin to walk through the snow. TheThey'reir carefully moving through the trees, trying very hard not to be seen.)  
  
"What are you guys doing now.now? You're walking through the trees and now what?" Samantha says.  
  
"Now we've stopped, there's a fence a head of us. It looks like it's a fifth teen foot high fence. There's barbwire on top and guard towers on each corner of the fence. They haven't seen us yet, there's also a main gate with at least two guards at the front. Wait I hear something coming closer, it sounds like a car or a truck." Logan said to Samantha.  
  
"Get down, there's a tTrucktruck approaching the main gate." Silver Fox says to the other three. T(they all duck down and hide behind the trees. The truck passes by them and approaches the gate. It is stopped by the two guards and than the gates opened and it is waived through.)  
  
"It looks like that truck is carrying more supplies for Project Fallen Eagle." Saber Tooth said.  
  
"Yeah, it's probably more fuel or plutonium." Logan said.  
  
"Which means they're close to completion and we have to get a move on fast." Silver Fox said.  
  
"There's no easy approach, tTwotwo guards on each tower and two at the gate, random patrols every ten minutes or so, fifth teen foot high electrical fence with barb wire at the top, motion sensors a long the ground and not to mention the cameras on the sides of the buildings. There's no easy approach." Striker said.  
  
"Alright here's what we are going to do, Saber tooth your going to strategically place two of the little mirrors between the motion sensor beambeams. So that there is a break in the beam that we can go through but there will be no interruption of the beam because the mirrors will reflect the beam back at the two sensors.  
  
As for the fence, Striker you're going to connect the two batteries to the fence. One on each side of the break in the motion sensor beam, so that when we cut the fence there's no interruption in the power to the fence, thus we won't set off any alarms. We will use the micro laser cutter to cut a hole in the fence large enough for each of us to get through." Logan said.  
  
"What do we do about the guards?" Silver fox says to Logan.  
  
"Well you Ffox will use your Ar125 to shoot the guards in the tower and at the gate with a very strong and potent tranquilizer, that will keep them out for hours. As for the random patrols, well we will just have to keep our eyes and ears open and be very careful. The cameras we can tap into using my computer expertise to send them into a continuous feed back loop and there you have it ladies and gentleman." Logan said in an arrogant tone of voice.  
  
"Good going Logan, I see you have all the bases covered. So now that we got that out the way, letslet's get this show on the road. Saber Tooth your up" Silver Fox said. (He pulls two small mirrors out of his back pack and crawls to the fence and plants each on opposite sides about ten feet apart. While he does this Silver fox pulls a long Slenderslender box out of her bag and opens it up. There is three mental pieces inside. She pulls out a rectangular shaped one and then a long cylinder out and screws it into the rectangular piece.  
  
Next she pulls out a rectangular block and snaps into place under the cylinder. She has put together a type of gun, than she pulls a scope out from her bag and snaps it onto the top of the gun. She then proceeds to pull out a little box out of her back pack and inside are six vials with some kind of liquid inside and a needle at the top of each. She puts four of them into a clip for the gun than snaps it into place on the bottom of the gun. Silver Fox lay's down onto the snowy ground and takes aim at one of the guards at the gate. She fires and he goes down, then moments later she shoots the other guard at the gate and he goes down. Next she takes aim at one of the guard towers on the left of the fence. Just as one of the guards is going to turn around and see Saber Tooth she pulls the trigger and he falls to the ground. Before his partner could realize what was going on he falls to the floor as well.  
  
She slides to the right and once again takes aim and pulls the trigger but this time her focus is on the right guard tower. The first guard falls to the ground and before his partner knows what's'swhat's going on she fires again but she misses the guard. He realizes what's going on and draws his weapon and prepares to fire. Than another louder shoot rings out and the guard clutches his chest and his hand is stained with blood. Than the guard falls twenty-five feet straight down to the ground from the guard tower above. The snow near him turns red with his own blood. Logan runs to Saber Tooth, who fired the shoot that killed the guard.  
  
"What the Hell is wrong with you, you killed him." Logan says to Saber Tooth in an angry tone of voice.  
  
"She missed and he was going for his weapon. If I hadn't killed him he would have pulled the alarm and started shooting at us. Than the whole damn world would've knewknown we were here and the mission would've wentgone to hell before it even got started." Saber Tooth says to Logan in an angry tone of his own. They both are face to face and you can cut the tension between them with a knife. Striker and Fox go up to them to try to calm thing down.  
  
"Saber Tooth is right Logan, if he hadn't killed him we wouldn't be standing here arguing about it now. Come on we have a mission to complete." Silver Fox says as she pulls Logan away from Saber Tooth. Striker goes up to the fence and hooks up the two batteries to it. Thaen Saber Tooth comes over and cuts the fence with a micro laser, that has the shape of a little round cylinder.  
  
"The door is open lets go in." Saber Tooth says. He ducks down and goes through the fence followed by Striker and than Fox and after her Logan. They run over to hide behind a truck about twenty feet away from this huge compound. Just thaen a guard discovers the footprints in the snow. He came up from behind them.  
  
"Hey where did these foot prints come from?" The Guard says to himself. Then he turns his head to the left and sees the team. He draws his gun and fires. He hits the side of the truck because Logan ducked. Striker pulled a small knife from his belt and throws it at the guard hitting him in the chest and killing him.  
  
"Damn, wWewe have to move away from here quickly. Someone might have heard him discharge his weapon. They'll be coming to investigate soon." Fox says.  
  
"Here help me Striker we need to hide the body." Logan said to Striker as he grabs the guard legs and Logan grabs his arms and they throw him into the back of the truck.  
  
"We need to find the camera's circuit box, so I can interface with it and set up the loop." Logan said to the team.  
  
"What does this circuit box look like?" Saber Tooth said.  
  
"It's a little black box mounted on the side of the building." Logan said.  
  
"We should split up and try to find the box. Logan you're with me and Striker you go with Saber Tooth." Silver Fox ordered the team. They split up, Logan and Fox go to the left and Saber Tooth and Striker go to the right. Fox and Logan approach the corner and Logan takes a peek around the corner and the way is clear, so they go on ahead.  
  
"Wait, there's a door here. Do you think it's locked?" Logan Said to Silver Fox.  
  
"I don't know maybe it is or maybe there's aan alarm hooked up to it." Silver Fox replied to Logan. So he reaches out and grabs the knob and turns it, it's unlocked. So hHehe opens it slightly and sticks his head in and checks for and alarm hook ups and any motion sensors. There's nothing hooked up to the door so they go inside.  
  
"Where are we?" Fox asks Logan.  
  
"We're in some kind of corridor or something. (He grabs his wrist and presses down on a button on to activate his communication system.) Tooth, Striker, where are you guys?" Logan said.  
  
"Where still outside, but we found an entrance into the building. We're going inside. How about you guys? Where are you?" Said Striker.  
  
"We just entered the building now. We're in some kind of corridor." Logan responds to Striker. (Fox pulls a palm computer out from her belt and is triangulating their positions.)  
  
"We're here, (she points to a square on the computer, Logan looks), the main laboratory should be about here (she points again to a larger box on the screen.)" Fox said.  
  
"So Hhow far to the lab?" Logan asks her.  
  
"About 15 meters that way (she points to her left, to a hall way)" Fox said.  
  
"And where are Striker and Saber Tooth?"  
  
"They are here, near the west entrance. If they enter there they can meet us in the 4th corridor. Than from there we can all make our way down the south hall to the 8th corridor and than take the 3rd corridor straight to the lab." Fox said to the team.  
  
"Ok that sounds good but first let me set the cameras into the continuouses feedback loop, so all we have to worry about is the guards. (He runs over to the wall on the right, where there is a black box mounted on it. He opens it up and sees dozens of different colored wires. He pulls a gray keypad from his pack and takes a red wire from the box and connects it to the keypad. He starts to punch in numbers at random in an attempt to break the code and patch into the system. It takes about a minute and he's in).  
  
"Got it, I'm in baby, damn I'm good. I even amaze myself." Logan said.  
  
Fox walks over to him "You broke the code? YourYou're in the system?"  
  
"Yeah I'm in, now I just need to record a few seconds of video (He disconnects the keypad and hooks up his palm computer to the box via a red and blue wire.)" Logan said.  
  
"What are you doing?" Fox asks.  
  
"I'm using my palm C900 to record video using their cameras, then I'm going to upload it into their system and route the feed back into a continuous loop and patch into all the cameras connected to this system. The only problem is that they might have another system where some of the other cameras are connected to." Logan said.  
  
"So those cameras won't be affected?" Fox asks a good question to Logan.  
  
"No, they will still work right."  
  
"How do we tell which ones are affected by the loop?" Fox asked.  
  
"Well if they were smart they would've set up two different systems, one for the south and west part of the base and one for the north and east part of the base. I'm guessing I've messed with the south system. And we're in luck because the lab is located in the south part of the base." Logan responds to fox.  
  
"So the lab cameras won't work?" Fox asks.  
  
"Nope and I am just about done, right now. (He disconnects his computer from the box and closes it). There it's done, Tooth, Striker, you guys still there?" He asks over his comm. System.  
  
"Yeah we're still here little man." Tooth said.  
  
"You guys need to meet us in the forth corridor. Are you inside the installation yet?" Logan asks.  
  
"Yeah we're in the building now and are making our way to the 4th corridor. Wait, do you here that striker?"  
  
"Yeah, someone's coming,coming; it sounds like two or three guards coming from the left hall." Striker says to Saber Tooth.  
  
"Here we can hide here and ambush them when they turn the corner." Saber Tooth says as they both Striker and Saber Tooth hide on one side of the wall near the corner. As the three guards turn the corner and come into view, striker grabs the one on the left and snaps his neck. Saber Tooth grabs the one on the right and stabs him in the gut with his knife. The third guard draws his weapon and turns around to shoot at his unknown attackers. Saber Tooth rushes him and knocks the gun out of his hand and breaks his arm. ThaenThen gives him a right elbow to his face and breaks his nose. ThanThen he sweeps around behind the guard and snaps his neck.  
  
"Now what do we do with the bodies?" Striker asks Saber Tooth.  
  
"Here we can stash the bodies in this storage room. (He grabs the body of the guard he killed and drags it into the storeroom and Striker follows with the other two guards). Their problem solved, now come on let's go before more come." Saber Tooth told Striker.  
  
Ten minutes later Saber Tooth and Striker meet up with Fox and Logan at the forth corridor.  
  
"I see you guys made it finally." Logan says to Saber Tooth and Striker in an annoyed tone of voice.  
  
"At least they made it, come on we need to make our way to the lab. Logan disabled all the cameras so all we need to worry about is patrols, so keep your eyes and ears open." Fox says to her team.  
  
They make their way down the hall way and down the corridors to the lab. When they stop, they've come to a giant metal door with a keypad next to it.  
  
"It's a numerical keypad lock." Logan said.  
  
"Can you break the code?" Fox asks Logan.  
  
"I don't have too, they did it for us. All I need to do is sprinkle this powder over the keypad (as he says this he pulls a small rectangular box out of his backpack and opens it up. He takes a small brush and brushes the powder over the keypad. As he does this it reveals finger prints over the numbers that have been pressed to open the door) and just press the numbers the fingerprints are on and Walla, two, four, five, eight and zero." Logan says as he presses those same numbers and hits enter. Than a beep sounds and the door opens up, only to reveal a bridge that connects a ledge on their side to another door and ledge on the other side. But before they can go across they need to get buy the group of eight guards standing outside of the other door. They see Logan and the others as soon as the door opens and they fire their weapons. Logan and Fox move against the right side of the door and Saber Tooth and Striker move to the left. They too draw their weapons and a shoot out begins.  
  
Two of the guards move across the bridge to get with in a closer range of their attackers. One of the other guards that stayed back has alerted the scientists and guards inside the lab to what's going on outside and by doing this has confirmed their suspicions of them being under attack. The guards inside take up a defensible position by turning over tables and getting behind them and having their weapons ready and aimed at the door, ready to shoot what ever comes through. Mean while out side the shoot out continues.  
  
"Now what, if we don't think of something fast we're going to have our ass handed to us. (He turns to face inward into the room and fires his weapon at the guards)." Saber Tooth said to Fox and Logan. "  
  
"Fox you got those flash grenades." Logan said to Fox.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean (She pulls two small round devices from her belt and presses down on a button on the top of each one), as soon as they go off we move in and rush the guards." Fox said.  
  
"All right everyone ready? (The others just nod their heads and ready their weapons) One, two, three and GO Fox!!" Logan said to Fox.  
  
She rolls the grenades on the floor across the bridge and a few seconds later they explode and a blinding white light engulfs the whole area. The light blinds the guards and the team moves in with guns blazing. Fox shoots the guard on the left that's on the bridge and kills him and Saber Tooth engages the other guard on the bridge in hand-to-hand combat. The flash is beginning to subside and the guards continue to fire their weapons. Striker and Logan take up a defensible position on the ledge returning fire.  
  
Striker hits one guard on the other side on the right and he falls over the railing of the ledge into a giant hole and as he falls he screams. The scream echoes through the whole area. Saber Tooth disarms the guard and snaps his neck. As he and Fox move across the bridge they use his dead body as a human shield. Five guards remain but not for long. Logan pulls out a small device from his belt and throws it into the air over the guards. Moments later the device explodes into a ball of fire, knocking down the guards. This gives the team enough time to make their way across the bridge and finish off the guards that are left. Saber Tooth drops the body over the bridge railing and he and Fox run over to the other side.  
  
Fox shoots the first guard in the chest and he falls dead to the ground. The guard next to her grabs her leg and pulls it back, knocking her face first to the ground. When she hits the floor, her gun is knocked from her hand and slides through the railing into the hole. The guard that tripped her then gets up and starts to kick her in her ribs with his steel toe combat boots. He grabs her and throws her up against the railing and proceeds to choke her by the neck.  
  
She slaps his ears with her hands; he lets go and jumps back. Than she takes her right hand and makes a fist and punches him in his face. While he is stunned she grabs his shirt with one hand and his belt with the other and throws him over the railing. But he grabs the top of the railing with his right hand and is hanging on by his right hand.  
  
"Help mMeme, please don't let me die." The hanging guard says to Fox in a frightened tone in his voice, as he hangs on for dear life. She takes one look at him, staring down at him with an icy glare, showing no emotion what's so ever, staring right into his eyes. Thaen she reaches out with her right arm and grabs his wrist, as if to save him, as if she took pity upon this man but then she pulls his hand off the railing and lets go, condemning this man to his death. He falls into the hole, which has to be about a fifty-foot drop, straight down. His screams of fear and terror echo off of the cold steal walls.  
  
Mean while Saber Tooth has shotot oneshot one guard in the head and tossed another over the railing to his death that awaits him below. Logan and Striker have both shoot and killed the other two remaining guards. Their bodies lay bloodied on the floor of the ledge. The teams isteams are huffing and puffing, they are out of breath from engaging the guards. Logan shoots the other keypad on the other side to close the door big metal door across the bridge, so no one else can get in. Striker and Logan run across the bridge to join the others.  
  
"Well that was fun, they were better trained than I thought." Fox said out of breath.  
  
"Those little punks were nothing, like little flies that needed to be swatted." Saber Tooth said in an arrogant tone of voice.  
  
"So now what?" Striker said.  
  
"There's probably three dozens more on the other side of that door, just waiting for us. All right here's what we're going to do. I'm going to over ride the security lock and as soon as the door opens, Striker and Saber Tooth youryou're going to roll two grenades each into the lab to create a diversion and give us time to get in. Once we're in side I'll make my way to the main computer and hack in to get the information we need. Upload the virus and than we'll leave. While I'm doing this you guys need to keep them off of my back. When I've down loaded the information we need, that's when you striker need to make your way over to the nuclear device and any other devices of significance and set the charges. Fox you're going to kill any scientist you see in the room, so if they survive they can't restart the program. Saber Tooth you're going to keep the guards busy until we're done and than clear a path for us to escape. All right you all know what to do, so let's get this show on the road." Logan said to the team.  
  
Logan takes his computer out of his pack, hooks it up to the keypad and starts to crack the code. He does it in a matter of moments and everyone is ready to go. The door opens and the grenades roll in. Seconds later they explode and the guards are distracted for a few moments, just long enough for them to get inside. Once inside Logan heads for the main computer straight ahead, killing a few guards on the way. He begins to play around with the keyboard, trying desperately to hack in. While Saber Tooth battles the guard's hand-to-hand. to- hand. One by one they are taken out, Striker blasts them with his laser gun, Saber Tooth fighting them hand to hand and Fox doing a little of both. Just than a door to the right opens up and more guards pour in, the team is being over whelmed.  
  
"You got in yet!!" Fox yells to Logan as she fins off two guards.  
  
"Almost, not yet!! I need a little more time!" He shouts back.  
  
"Hurry up, we're being overrun runned, we can't take much more!!" Saber Tooth cries out as he tries to battle six guards on his own. Just than Logan yells  
  
"I'm in!!" Which signals Striker to get going and set the charges.This signals Striker to get going and set the charges. To the left is a giant experimental missile hanging in mid air with wires attached to it. He pulls out a bag and pulls from the bag a rectangular box with a red and a blue wire stuck in it and a red screen in the middle. He sticks it onto the middle of the missile and flips a little gray switch on it. As soon as he flips the switch red numbers appear and begin to count down from twenty minutes.  
  
"It's set, it all goes to hell in twenty, letslet's go!!" Striker yells out to the other team members.  
  
"I'm all most down, Fox you've finished!!" Logan yells back to Fox.  
  
"Not yet, we're not done yet!!" She yells back as she disposes with the guard she was fighting and runs over to a regular size metal door. She blasts the lock and kicks it open. She finds inside a group of quivering scientist's. She pulls her gun out and begins to slaughter everyone in the room. They cry out something in Russian, probably begging for their lives and try to run and hide behind tables in the room. But their attempts prove in vain. They all are killed and the room is a blood bath. Then she cries out: "It's done, let's go!!"  
  
They only have about eighteen minutes left before the place goes sky high. Logan has finished downloading the information and is uploading the virus. But in all the chaos no one notices a tall metal door in the shadows has opened up and a tall, medium build man comes walking in. He is dressed in a shiny red and gray metal suit. He has long dark brown hair and his skin is pale white. He has wires connected to his body and his suit. He takes a look around at the carnage that is going on. He stops and focuses his attention on Saber Tooth and stares at him with a hard and icy glare, than slowly walks over to Saber Tooth; he walks through all the chaos. He puts his right hand on Saber Tooth. Saber looks down at the hand and thinks it's another guard. He turns around with an arrogant look on his face but when he gazes on this creature, his mouth drops to the floor. Than creature puts his right hand around Sabers neck and begins to choke him. Saber Tooth grabs his right arm with both of his hands but is unable to pull his arm off, much to his surprise. Than the man lifts him up with his one arm into the air, about two feet off the ground. Sabers face is turning blue because of the lack of air. Striker and Fox notice what's going on and are too in awe of this man or creature.  
  
The man throws Saber Tooth into the air, fifthteen feet from where he was standing. Saber hits the wall and slides down, breaking through a table. Striker reaches behind him and pulls out a large rifle from his back and fires continuously at this man. But it's seems to have no affect on him. It just bounces off his shiny suite, which appears to be some kind of armor.  
  
He turns his head at striker and than his body. Suddenly he raises his left arm up half way to his head. Striker continues to fire, Fox is busy with some guards and Logan has just finished. He turns around and sees this man, he than proceeds to raise his weapon and too fires at this man. But yet again it has no affect on him.  
  
The middle of his raised arm opens and a cylinder device rises up and is aimed at Striker. The inside begins to glow and then a laser blast is fired from the cylinder in Strikers direction, he ducks and narrowly averts the blast but it hits the wall behind him and blows a two inch hole in it. They are all amazed at the power of the blast.  
  
"Forget it!! LetsLet's Go!!" Logan yells as he continues to fire as he runs for the door. The man now focuses in on Fox as she and Striker both head for the door along with Logan.  
  
"What about Tooth?" Fox says to Logan.  
  
"Tooth come on!! LetsLet's go!!" Logan says as the three gather at the door. Saber Tooth begins to come too, gets up and charges toward the man. He knocks him to the ground. More guards begin to pour in from the door to the right. He joins the other three and they start to leave but Saber Tooth needs to be helped, so Logan goes and helps him. Fox and Striker lay down covering fire for Tooth who is hobbling and is being helped by Logan. They make it out the door but when Fox and Striker turn to leave they fall face first to the ground. The man has rapped a metal rope around each one of their legs and he holds the other end. He begins to pull them toward him, as the other guards start firing their weapons at Logan and Tooth. Logan turns to see what's going on and discovers his friends have been tied up and are not going to make it without help.  
  
"Fox!! Striker!!" Logan says their names as he proceeds to go back and help his friends, when the door to the lab suddenly slams shut. He looks to his right to see what's going on and discovers that Saber Tooth has shut the door.  
  
"What the Hell do you think you are doing? They're still in there,there; we have to get them out!!" Logan shouts at Saber Tooth.  
  
"They're expendable, come let's go!!" Saber Tooth responds.  
  
"Bull shit, I'm going back in and getting them out." Saber grabs his hand and stops him from opening up the door.  
  
"If you go back in you will die too along with them and the mission will fail. Our number one priority is to the mission." Saber Tooth said.  
  
"I can't just leave them here to die!! Fox, Fox." Logan said and mumbles Foxes name.  
  
"Yes we can, come on or we'll be dead along with them!" Saber Tooth says as he grabs Logan's shirt and pulls him in the other direction to the other door across the bridge. Logan hesitantly goes with Saber Tooth but turns and looks back at the door. He remembers the last picture he has of Fox lying on the floor with the metal rope around her leg, looking up at Logan with those big brown eyes, with a look of fear and sadness on her face. Logan fears that he will never see her again. The two run across the bridge and stop for a moment as they come to the door.  
  
"What now, there's probably two dozen more waiting for us to come out." Logan said to Saber.  
  
"I don't know, we should just blow the door open and fight our way out. Call for the chopper so it will be waiting when we get out." Saber Tooth said.  
  
Logan pushes a button on his wrist and begins to talk. "Charlie 678, this is Snow White and the seven dwarfs awaiting pick up at the site, over." Logan says. Than through his earpiece he can hear a voice a mist static.  
  
"Charlie 678 to Snow White and the seven dwarfs, evil step mother all around. Only five minutes and five minutes only over and out." Charlie 678 said.  
  
"They'll be there but they'll only wait for us for five minutes. So we better get moving and moving quickly. I say we just set a charge on the door to blow it open and then run like hell right past them and kill anyone who gets in our way." Logan said to Saber Tooth.  
  
"Sounds like a plan, I'll set the charges" He says as he pulls a rectangular shaped box out of his bag, attaches it to the door and flips the little switch. The count down starts at ten and soon hits nine, eight, seven, six, five and as it counts down they take up positions on each side of the door. When it hits zero, it explodes blowing open the door and throwing back a dozen or so guards waiting outside.  
  
Logan and Saber Tooth hurry and run past them, turning and shooting at them to try to fin off any guards trying to follow them. They are leaving the same way they came in. And before they know it they are out of the building, running through the snow with three-dozen men chasing and shooting at them.  
  
Then suddenly there is a giant explosion behind them all. It's as if half the base was blown straight to hell. Everyone including Logan and Saber Tooth are knocked down into the snow.  
  
Logan turns to look back at the carnage that has just ensued and he has fond memories of Fox and him and a feeling of great sadness and guilt comes over him. His eyes fill up with tears but he can't stop to mourn now, they still have to get to the chopper that. Who has been waiting for close to four minutes.  
  
He is remembering a time when he and Fox were happier, a time when they were vacationing up at a cabin in the woods. They were laughing and in love, but that's all over now and he knows that. Things will never be the same again.  
  
"Come Logan! We don't have time for this." He said as he grabs Logan and pulls him in the direction of the chopper, who is now visible and waiting.  
  
They start to run towards the hole in the fence that they made earlier. But the guards aren't ready to let them go that easily, they begin to fire their weapons at the two escaping men. Saber Tooth falls to the ground; he's been hit by fire from one of the guards. His leg is bleeding badly and time is running out, the chopper is about ready to leave the two behind because reinforcements are on the way.  
  
"Go Logan! Leave me! I'm expendable! Complete the mission." Saber Tooth pleads with Logan.  
  
Logan has to think quickly because time is running out and the guards are getting closer and so are their laser blasts. Logan grabs Saber, picks him up and throws him over his shoulders and continues on, but before he does he tosses a few grenades towards the guards, to give him the time he needs to get them both out of there.  
  
The pursuing guards are delayed for a few moments by the blast but that's all he needs. He makes his way through the fence and thus out of the compound and is now a few meters away from the chopper. He reaches the chopper, who is now firing is own guns to fin off reinforcements coming from the north. He tosses Saber Tooth in and he proceeds to get in and the chopper begins to take off. When a guard surprises him, grabs his leg from behind and pulls him down to the ground. He only has seconds to dispose of the guard because the chopper has already lifted off. Logan head butts the guy and gives him a right hook to his face. He draws his weapon and shoots the guard in his gut. Thus killing the guard. The guard falls back into the snow, which turns red with his blood.  
  
Logan than runs after the fleeing chopper and makes a leap toward the landing bar of the chopper, in one last desperate attempt to escape. He is able to grab on with both of his hands and pulls himself into the chopper. He straps himself in and as the chopper flies further and further away from what he now would consider hell on earth, he is picturing his fallen comrades and his lost love. He contemplates in his head the burning question we all must ask our selves when we loose friends in combat: "Was it worth it."  
  
Hours later they return to the base and there is a medical team waiting to tend to Saber Tooth. The chopper lands and they take Saber tooth away in a stretcher. Logan gets out and a look of anger and sadness is on his face. The General, who has a grin on his face, greets him.  
  
"Congratulations on a job well done team!! (Walks up to Logan) Where is the rest of the team?" The General says in a curious voice.  
  
"Gone." Logan says in a low saddened tone.  
  
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" He asks.  
  
"They were killed in the mission, we had to leave them behind and they were killed."  
  
"And what of Saber Tooth?" The General asked.  
  
"He was shot in his leg but he's going to be fine." Logan says in a mournful tone.  
  
"Well that's unfortunate but still with in acceptable loses. (The General says in a voice that is not too sad about what has happened) Well we still got the data and the missile was destroyed, so in my book that means the mission was a success. The others were as you know expendable."  
  
"They were not expendable, you sick bastard. They were human beings. Not machines, not some little pawns in your game!!" Logan said angry.  
  
"Calm down WEAPON X or should I say Miles Logan." The General says to Logan.  
  
"That's it, isn't it,it; we are all pawns in your damn game of politics and getting one up on everyone else in the fucking world. We're not people to you, just things, just weapons for you to use at your every whim. Well not any more you sick bastard, from here on out I quite, I'm done with this shit. I'm getting out while I still can, while I have a life to salvage." Logan says to the General in an angry voice, as he turns and walks away from the good General.  
  
"Don't walk away from me, you ungrateful little piece of shit! You think you can just say youryou're done and just walk away like nothing ever happened! Well you can't pal, we own you for life, we made you and we can damn sure break you! Rose's are red and violets are blue, I'm the General Hagan but who are you!!" General Hagan calls out to Logan.  
  
As soon as he says that phrase Logan freezes and stops right in his tracks. He is unable to move his legs and he has a blank look on his face, like he is no longer in control. Than he begins to say these words with no emotion like he is a robot.  
  
"I am WEAPON X a genetically enhanced human being. I live to serve the father. Victory is Life and as long as I am victorious I am alive. I am nothing more and nothing less." Logan said  
  
"Excellent WEAPON X, now tell me was the mission a success?" He asks Logan who still has that blank look on his face.  
  
"Yes, it was a success." Logan says in a robotic voice.  
  
"And what of Silver Fox and Striker?" He asks.  
  
"They are expendable, nothing more and nothing less." Logan said.  
  
"Good I'm glad you see things my way, now go to the medical bay, so they can check you out." He said to Logan. Then Logan walks away and General Hagan does the same.  
  
(Present Day)  
  
"And that's all I remember." Logan said to Samantha.  
  
"That's a very good, we learned a lot from that memory." Samantha said.  
  
"No, all we have now is more questions than before." Logan said.  
  
"We did learn a lot, believe it or not. We learned that there are more people that were affected and experimented on and not just you."  
  
"Yeah but two of them are dead. They died alone, in that cold hell. No one should have to die alone. As for the third who knows where he could be." Logan responded.  
  
"Yes but now we know who to look for to get some answers, General Hagan. If we track him down we can get some answers." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah Hagan, we need to find Hagan. But what about the guy who survived? Where is Saber Tooth, what happened to him?" Logan said to Samantha.  
  
"That's a good question, but it'll have to wait until after tomorrow."  
  
"Why after tomorrow? What's tomorrow?" Logan says.  
  
"Your friend Mitch's funeral is tomorrow."  
  
"Yeah, that's right I totally forgot about that." Logan responds in a low saddened tone off voice.  
  
"They might be there too you know" Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah I know but I have to go, I owe it to Mitch. He was like a father to me and I will find out what happened to him. It's just there's so many unanswered questions, I don't know what to do anymore, I don't know which way is up anymore."  
  
"Don't worry Logan (she walks over to him and takes his hand), I'll be with you every step of the way." Samantha says.  
  
"I don't know if I want you tooto, I mean who ever they are, they'reir dangerous and I don't want to put you in danger" He says as he looks deep into her blue eyes and she gazes back at him with a intense look of her own.  
  
"I'm already involved, have you forgotten the night club?.? I'm involved in this whether I like it or not and I might as well see this through to the end." Samantha said to Logan as she stared deeply into his eyes.  
  
"What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you? (They both lean in for a kiss but as their lips are right about to touch Logan pulls away) It's late you better be going." Logan said.  
  
"Your right I should be going it's late. You can pick me up around eleven o'clock tomorrow for the funeral. Will you be ok tonight?" Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah that'll be fine, have a good night, and try to get some sleep and I will try to do the same." Logan said.  
  
"I will try but it'll be hard." She said as she smiles at him and turns and walks out the door. He watches her through the window as she gets in her car and as she opens the door, she turns and looks back at him. A part of her wants to cry and run back in that hotel room but she doesn't, she just gets in her car and drives off.  
  
Chapter Four  
"Running"  
  
All through the night after Samantha left, all I could think about was that memory I had of the four of us and what had happened to them. I left two of my teammates and as far I'm concerned two of my friends behind to die all alone. I never wanted them to die alone in that god-forsaken hellhole. I not only left a friend behind but a lover too. I know now that what I was feeling for her was love. I loved this woman deeply and I just left her there to die. Without so much as trying to save her. How could I do that to someone I loved, maybe this programming has more of a hold on me than I thought.  
  
The more I remember,remember the more unanswered questions I have. Who is this Hagan and where is he? I need to find him and make him give me some answers. What if he is the one behind it all, behind those goons in black suites. What if Samantha gets hurt in the cross fire because of me, just like Mitch did. I couldn't live with myself if that happened. So I made a promise to myself to protect and try to keep her safe. Huh but we all know what happened to the last girl I loved.  
  
I could have done something or at least tried too. What a brave and noble soldier I am, I let my girlfriend, the woman I loved die. What about Striker my friend, gone too because of my cowardesscowardess. How could I live with myself after all this that I have done? And that bastard Saber Tooth, the one who made me leave them behind. Where is he in all this? Is the same happening to him also? I don't know, I don't know anything anymore. But what I do know is I need to press on for Fox and Striker and Mitch's sake. I can never give up until I know the truth, about what really is going on. And I need to follow the truth and this path I'm on where ever it may take me, no matter what the out come.  
  
I finally did get some sleep during the night, the few hours they were though. When I woke up the next mourning I did not look forward to the funeral. I guess because I would have to accept the fact that he is dead and not coming back. I got up and took a shower. The hot water felt so refreshing on my skin, I didn't want to leave. It felt like the water washed away all the things I have done, like they never happened. Like none of this had ever happened and I was back in my old life but I wasn't, I was still trapped in this nightmare. I got out and got dressed, but as time passed and the funeral got closer I began to feel nervous and sad.  
  
I mean Mitch was like a father to me, he was around me all my life and now suddenly he's gone. It would be easier to accept if he hadn't died and left such a mystery in his wake. I guess I felt partly responsible for his death because he was killed for what he knew about the Oyama case, for what I asked him to look into. But I couldn't think about that now. I was hungry and thought that Samantha and I could grab a bite to eat before the ceremony. So I left my hotel room and went over to her house to pick her up. He pulls up to her house and parks his car a long side the curb and gets out. Logan walks up to the front door and knocks on it twice.  
  
"Who is it?" Samantha asks as she peeks out the window.  
  
"It's me, Logan."  
  
"Oh hi, you're early" She opens the door.  
  
"Yeah I know, I thought we might grab a bite to eat before the ah ceremony."  
  
"Yeah that's a good idea, um come in and have a seat. I'll be right down, I need to get my coat." She says as she goes upstairs and Logan enters the house and has a seat in the living room. He gets up and looks at some pictures of her and a tall dark and handsome oldierolder man on the mantle of the fireplace.  
  
"All done (she comes down the stairs), let's go Logan"  
  
"Ok, yeah" He says he puts the picture down, and they both leave the house and get in the car and drive away.  
  
"So did you get any sleep last night?" Logan asks Samantha.  
  
"Yeah, I slept well for the most part, how about you?" Samantha asked.  
  
"I couldn't really get to sleep,sleep. I find it harder and harder to sleep each night.; I was thinking about today too much and what happened last night. It'll be good to see Lese and the kids again. It's been a while since I've seen them."  
  
"Lese is his wife?" Samantha inquires  
  
"Yeah, they were married for about eight years. They had two kids together, Hilary and Mitch Jr. Hilary is five and Mitch Jr. is about three. To think they're going to grow up with out a father. I never really introduced the two of you did I?" Logan said.  
  
"No you didn't, only those few times we met. I just know he was really important to you." Samantha said.  
  
"Hum, we have known each other for what, four or five years now?"  
Logan asked.  
  
"Yes, something like that." Samantha replies.  
  
"Huh all these years you have known me and I have known him, I never really pushed you guys to get to know each other better. I guess I thought I had all the time in the world." Logan said. they were married for about eight years. They had two kids together, Hilary and Mitch Jr. Hilary is five and Mitch Jr. is about three. To think they're going to grow up with out a father." Logan said.  
  
"That's terrible,terrible; no child should grow up with out both parents in their lives." Samantha said  
  
"I know what you mean or at least I did. I don't even know if these memories of me growing up at Fern Cliff are real. I don't even know if my parents are still alive and for that matter where they are."  
  
"It must be hard for you to live with the fact that everything you believed your whole life could now be one big lie." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah well, I'm going to find out the truth and my parents, one way or another." Logan said.  
  
"What if they'reif they're dead?"  
  
"No, they're alive, I can't explain it. I just know they are out there, waiting for me to come home. Huh that word home has a new meaning now. We're here (he pulls into the parking lot of a diner), this is Tilley's Diner, (he parks the car and they both get out and walk up to the entrance) and they make great roast beef sandwiches and hamburgers too." Logan says as he opens the door and Samantha enters and he follows. They sit down at a table in the corner and pick up the menus on the table.  
  
"Let's see what looks good?" Samantha says to herself.  
  
"I'm going to have the roast beef on the hearty Italian role, what about you?"  
  
"Well, I think I'll have the lunch special." Samantha said.  
  
The waitress comes up to the table. "May I take your order?" Waitress says.  
  
"Yeah hi, um I'll take the roast beef on the hearty Italian, with a side of steak fries and a large diet coke." Logan says to the waitress.  
  
"Ok and you miss?" Waitress says to Samantha  
  
"I'll have the lunch special with a large diet-coke and for the side I'd like a Cesar salad." Samantha tells the waitress.  
  
"Ok, so that's the roast beef on the hearty Italian, with steak fries and a large diet coke" The Waitress reads them back their order.  
  
"Correct" Logan said.  
  
"And for the lady one lunch special and a large diet coke as well and a Cesar salad. Will there be any thing else for you today?" Waitress says.  
  
"No that'll be all, thank you." Logan said.  
  
"Ok I'll be right back with your drinks." Waitress said as she walked away back behind the counter.  
  
"I use to come here all the time a few years ago." Logan said.  
  
"Why did you stop coming?" Samantha said as the waitress interrupts bringing their drinks.  
  
"Here you go two large diet cokes (she sets them down on the table) and your food will be ready in about ten minutes." Waitress said as she turns and walks away.  
  
"So you didn't answer my question, why did you stop coming?" She asks.  
  
"Oh I don't know, I ah use to come here everyday for lunch and I guess it lost its appeal. A few years ago I met Anna here, when I came in for lunch that day." Logan said.  
  
"Oh yeah Anna Devain, weren't you serious about her?" Samantha inquires.  
  
"Yeah we were what you could call serious, we were engaged once a upon a time." Logan says in a sadden tone of voice.  
  
"What ever happened to her?" Samantha says as the waitress interrupts again but this time with their food.  
  
"Roast beef on hearty Italian?" said the Waitress.  
  
"Yeah that's me (she puts the plate down by Logan)"  
  
"And the lunch special?" (She puts the other plate down in front of Samantha)  
  
"Thank You. (Logan said and the waitress leaves) So what were we talking about again? Oh yeah. Anna Devain, you asked me what ever happened to Anna. Well about a week before the wedding she called me at night and told me she was going back to England and the wedding was off. I was on a business trip in Seattle at the time. She never explained why, she just said she was leaving and that she loved me. I never heard from her again after that phone call. I even tried to track her down in England but she had moved and left no forwarding address." Logan said.  
  
"She broke your heart." Samantha says in a sympathetic voice.  
  
"Yeah she did, I loved her so much, so much so I was willing to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. I never felt the same since, I just can't figure out why she did it." Logan said as he takes a bite of his sandwich.  
  
"Well maybe she got cold feet. Maybe she was afraid of committing and giving herself and her heart to some one. A lot of people are like that. They are always in control and have to be every second of every day. And when they aren't it scares them to death. Because they are powerless to control what's going on." Samantha says.  
  
"Yeah maybe (he looks out the window), but if she loved me as much as she said she did, I, I still can't comprehend why. So how's your food?" Logan ponders.  
  
"It's pretty good, you weren't lying when you said they have good food."  
  
"I guess it was just totoo painful for me to come back, you know totoo many memories of her." Logan suggests.  
  
"So why did you come back now?" Samantha said.  
  
"I don't know, I guess with all that's happened I came to the realization that the past belongs in the past and we can't dwell on it, we have to move on. I mean the past does have a big effect on who we are sure, it helps determine what kind of a person we are but it doesn't make us who we are. I don't know, that's my two cents. So I told you about my heart break, so now it's your turn, tell me about the one that got away?" Logan asks.  
  
"Well where do I start, I was nineteen and had just started college. I was the young naive freshman and he was the more experienced sophomore. We were together all through college and had plans to stay together when I went off to medical school." Samantha said.  
  
"So what happened? What changed" Logan asks.  
  
"Well about three months into medical school I got a letter from him, saying he needed to find himself and this long distance relationship wasn't working out. He had met some girl name Lucy and she was unlike any other girl he had met before. He didn't even have the guts to call me, like Anna did. I guess I didn't deserve a phone call. Or maybe they didn't have phones where he was trying to find himself. That one broke my heart in two, I thought we were going to be together forever you know but I guess I was wrong."  
  
"We really know how to pick them don't we." Logan says.  
  
"I guess we don't or maybe there's something wrong with us. Maybe we are just not the marrying kind, maybe we don't deserve to be loved by the opposite sex." Samantha ponders.  
  
"No that's not it, you're a beautiful, intelligent and ambitious woman and there is nothing wrong with you. You'll make some lucky guy a great wife some day, I mean you're a catch look at you." Logan flatters Samantha and they look into each other's eyes.  
  
"Thank you and I could say the same about you, now couldn't I. There is nothing wrong with you and you will make a very lucky woman a wonderful husband some day." Samantha said.  
  
"No, you're wrong,wrong; there is something wrong with me (they both laugh)." Logan said.  
  
"Not from where I'm sitting." Samantha replies. (They both look at each other)  
  
"I guess they left us because they were running from something." Logan said  
  
"Yeah running from us." She says sarcastically.  
  
"No I mean they were running from the future or what they would turn into. You know they were afraid of what would become of them if they had stayed. Afraid of a serious relationship, afraid of getting tied down and what they would turn into as a result. I guess we are all running from something. We are all running from are own personal demons and are our past. Running not to the future but from it. Running from what we might become. Maybe Anna ran because she was not ready to get tied down, even if I was. Maybe Michael ran because the thought of committing was too much for him. Some people aren't ready for a commitment no matter what they say. It's about what they feel. It's about what they're running from.  
  
Maybe I'm running too, maybe the reason why I don't remember is because I'm running from the truth. Maybe I don't want to know what really happened, so my mind blocked everything out. We are all running from something but the thing we must remember is that why should we run and be afraid of what is coming. We can't change it, no matter how hard we try and how much we think we can. It's better to stand our ground and face our future, accept our past and be content with the present. Because all of our mistakes have made us the people that we are today and why would you want to change that, unless we're unhappy with ourselves. Then if that's the case I pity us all and hope one day that we will find happiness of our own." Logan stated.  
  
"Wow, that was profound, that was enlightening and was damn well put. I think you should write a book." Samantha said.  
  
"Yes it was wasn't it and maybe I should but what would I title it "Everything Not to do in a Relationship, so that it doesn't turn into a Train Wreck". Well I guess everybody needs a hobby." Logan said.  
  
"Yes we do, don't we." Samantha said.  
  
"You know Sam, of all the woman I have known, you are the only one that understands me. I appreciate everything you have done for me. I feel like I've been handed a gun, sent into a room full of people I don't know and told to shoot a stranger. Other than you, I don't know whosewho's an enemy and who is a friend. I was created to be the perfect killing machine, a living weapon. Not to have any type of life of his ownmown only what they implanted in my head. I was never to have emotion, never to fall in love. But they failed because I feel, I am not some mindless, feelinglessunfeeling killing machine. I have evolved beyond that, I'm not some thing they created in a lab, no I'm a human being, that feels, loves and lives his life. I refuse to be that person they created, that weapon x." Logan said.  
  
"You are so much more than what the created, you a human being and not some mindless killing machine. Sure weapon x is apart of you but it's not all of you. I have seen the other side of you. The gentle, loving side that they never intended for you to have. Weapon X is apart of you but not by choice. Even still you can't deny it but embrace it and accept it, because you can't change it. That doesn't mean you have to be it now, you were weapon x but you are Miles Logan now." Samantha says.  
  
"Yeah well (he clears his throat) anyway, we should be going, the services starts in less than an hour." Logan says.  
  
"Ok just let me freshen up first." Samantha says.  
  
"Yeah that's a good idea." (theyThey both get up and go to the restrooms. Logan opens the men's room door and goes to the urinal and urinates.  
  
Logan opens the men's room door and Thanand then he goes over to the sink and turns the water on and washes his hands and he splashes water on his face and looks into the mirror. He just stares back at his reflection and says to himself ,"himself, "Who am I." He falls into a sort of trance like state, just staring at himself in the mirror. Then images of Fox and the others on their mission, Oyama experimenting on him and of him running through the woods all flood his mind at once. Flashes of him leaving fox behind and her looking up at him, images of Fox and him at a cabin in the woods eating some kind of cake and laughing all pour into his mind. This happens none non- stop, on and on until he can't take anymore and than after a few minutes he snaps out of it.  
  
"What just happened, Fox, Striker, I can't get you out of my head? What is wrong with me? What have you done to me, to my mind.mind?" He says to himself and takes a glance at the mirror and sees a man staring back at him. A man he doesn't recognize anymore, a stranger, a zombie that has his face. He than goes over to the paper towel dispenser and grabs a few to dry his hands. He walks over to the door and turns the knob and opens it half way, turns and takes one last look at himself in the mirror and than he walks out.  
  
"What took you so long, did you fall in?" Samantha joking asks.  
  
"No, I ah, never mind. We probably should get going now. (He walks out and she follows him. They both get into the car and drive off and as the diner door swings shut all that is left is the sign that is hanging from the glass that reads: "Thank You and come again"  
  
Chapter Five  
  
"Good Bye to You"  
  
After we left the diner I couldn't help but think about what had happened in the restroom. What did it mean, just another unanswered question to add to the list. I couldn't tell Samantha about this, I didn't want her to worry about me even more than she already is. And besides we had business to take care. (Forty minutes later they pull up to Shady Acres Cemetery and park along the sidewalk)  
  
"Well this is it,it; we're here (he exhales)." Logan said in a somber voice.  
  
"Yeah, it looks like we are, are you ready for this?"  
  
"Sure, no sweat right, piece of cake. All right let's go" He said as he opens his car door and gets out, he walks over to the other side of the car and just stares at the big, green rolling grassy hills. He rotates his head from side to side looking at all the graves and the bouquets of flowers on the graves. He looks at the people standing next to the graves of their loved ones and how sad they look. Some are crying and praying that wherever their loved ones are that they are safe and well.  
  
"You alright?" Samantha asks, concerned for her friend as she puts her hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, letslet's do this" Logan said as a tear comes to his eye, he finally realizes what he is about to do and what it means. Samantha takes his right hand and holds it as the two walk up the hill, by all the other graves and the morning people. Than as they walk further and further up the hill they come to two rows of what must be a dozen chairs in each row. Than as they get closer these little figures begin to get bigger and it is revealed they are mourners for the late Mitch Buchanan. Now they are mere steps away and he recognizes some of the guests. As they walk down the isle and look for seating a woman calls out to him from behind.  
  
"Hey Logan!" He turns around and sees Mitch's wife Lese.  
  
"Hi Lese, it's good to see you again." Logan says.  
  
"Thank you, same to you, I just wish we hadn't met under these circumstances. But Mitch would want you here. And who's your date?" Lese said.  
  
"Oh she's not my date, just a friend." Logan corrects Lese.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry, I just assumed you were." Lese said.  
  
"I know." said Logan.  
  
"It's just you two look so good together, I just thought you were together." Lese implies.  
  
"No, we're just friends,friends; my name is Samantha, pleased to meet you. I'm so sorry for your lose."  
  
"Thank you Samantha and pleased to meet you too. Come why don't you guys sit next to the kids and me up front. You are going to speak? Aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah of course I am. I just wasn't sure you wanted me to." Logan said.  
  
"Don't be silly, of course I want you to, here come on let's take our seats." Lese says as the three sit down right in front on the right. Lese is seated on the right next to her two children and Logan is in the middle and Samantha is on his left. The minister walks up and takes the podium.  
  
"Thank you all for coming, we are gathered here today to say goodbye to one of our dearest friends (he pauses), Mitch Buchanan. No one knows when this life will be over and when it is their turn to join our Holy Father. But what we do know is that we will be in a better place. He is in God's hands now, where he is safe and warm for eternity. I knew Mitch myself for many years personally. If ever there was a man who loved life and was full of life it was Mitch Buchanan.  
  
Even when he was a child, about this high (he lowers his arm to his knee) he was so full of life. Now that's not to say he didn't get into his share of trouble because anyone who knows him knew he never shied away from a scrap. But he had a way of getting out of any sticky situation, like no one else. I have watched him grow into a fine young man, who used to volunteer down at St. Andrews every Saturday, instead of going with his friends and that's no small task for a teenage boy to do.  
  
And I finally had the pleasure of watching him grow up into the fine man he was and watch him start and raise a family. His two small children are a fitting legacy for him to leave behind. I look at them and I see so much of their father in them. It brings me to tears just thinking about it. (He begins to tear up and takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his tears) Please excuse me everyone, at this time I would like anyone else who knew him to come up and share a fond memory they have of him." Minister Camden says as he takes his seat in tears. A tall man in a black police uniform stands and takes the podium.  
  
(He clears his throat) "For those of you that don't know me my name is Mathew Reese, I was Mitch's partner for several years. He was my first partner that I ever had and in fact he was my only partner. I was fresh out of the academy and was assigned to him. You know the rookie sent to train with the seasoned pro. I had no clue as to what real police work was and I had never been out there on the streets. So as you can imagine I had a few things to learn, even if I thought I knew it all.  
  
He took a liking into me for reasons I still don't understand but that was Mitch and he always saw the good in people. He was a special guy that Mitch. (He starts to get choked up and break down and cry) Excuse me everyone, I promised myself I wouldn't cry but I just can't help it. I'll never forget you Mitch Buchanan, where ever you are now, I know you're in a better place." Mathew says as he walks back to his seat, fighting back tears. Next a short, over weight woman with red hair walks up to the podium and begins to speak.  
  
"I knew Mitch but not as long as some of you have. He used to come in to the Diner every morning and every afternoon. When he would come in the morning he would sit down in the same stool at the counter and order bacon and eggs, with a cup coffee and orange juice and some toast.  
  
He would sit there and read the paper for about an hour then he would go off to work and leave a two-dollar tip on the counter. Than he would come back five hours later for lunch and he would sit in the same stool and order the pastrami on rye, easy on the mayo and a large coke, with a side curly fries. Again he would sit there for an hour and read then get up and leave. But every time he would say to me "Verna the usual."." And he would ask "Verna how are the kids doing?". I'd tell him and than ask him how his were doing.  
  
He'd go on and on about how proud he is of his two children and how happily married he was. When he said this his face would light up and he'd smile and say: "Verna does it get any better than this" and he would say "No I don't believe it does." ThaThenn he would eat and after he was done, I'd say "Mitch"Mitch you are a special one, now you beare safe out there and come back and see us again." Than he get up, head for the door and get half way out, than turn and say "You know I will Verna, you're my girl, see you tomorrow" and he'd walk out.  
  
I would look forward to the next day, when he would come back in and we would go through it all again. He would make my day, Mitch was a kind, gentleman who was taken before his time and I will never forget him. I'll always keep his place open for him, just incase." Verna says and than takes her seat. His wife Lisa stands up and she is the next speaker to take the podium.  
  
"I stayed up last night trying to think of what to say today but I just couldn't think of the words to say. So I decided just to speak from the heart, just like Mitch did. He always said what he felt and felt what he said. He touched everyone who knew him. He had a passion for life and he loved his life. Mitch was a Father, husband, provider and a friend to me and to many others who knew him. I remember the first time we met and it was ten long years ago.  
  
I was a young single woman grocery shopping. I left my cart next to the apples in the produce section and went over to the bananas. When I turned around I discovered my cart passing me by. So I chased him and said what are you doing, that's my cart. He said: "Oh I'm sorry miss, I must have mistook it for mine." Than he picked up a box of cereal I had in the cart, I still remember what cereal it was too, and it was Frosted Flakes.  
  
He picked it up and said "Oh I see you like Frosted Flakes too, they are my favorite." And I thought to my self, who does he think he is. First he tries to steal my cart and than he goes through it. But then as he began to talk about non-sense, I don't know what it was about but I was drawn to him. Next thing I know is he's asking me out and to my surprise I said yes. Two years later we got married and five-year's later Hilary was born and than Mitch Jr. and the rest is history.  
  
I always thought he took my cart as a way to meet me. So I asked him a few years later and he said, "Yeah, what did you think, that I liked Frosted Flakes." Than I asked him, well what if I hadn't stopped you and I let you take the cart. So he thought about it for a minute and said, "Well I don't know, I hadn't thought about that."  
  
(She pauses) I only have one regret and that is that his two wonderful children will grow up barely even knowing their father. There's a hole in my heart that will never be filled because when he died a part of me was taken and went with him. (She looks up at the clear blue sky) Mitch I know you can hear me up there, I will always love you and you will be in my heart forever." She breaks down and cries and the minister walk's up and hugs her and puts his arm around her and escorts her to her seat. Than he goes up to the podium.  
  
"Is there any one else who would like to say a few words?" Minister Camden says to the teary eyed crowd. Than Logan stands up and walks to the podium and the minister takes his seat.  
  
"Hello everyone, my name is Miles Logan and I knew Mitch all my life. Ever since I was a little kid growing up. He was like a father to me growing up. You see I grew up in an orphanage. I never knew who my parents were. He treated me like I was a person, not like I was a kid without parents. We would go over to his parent's house on weekends and watch baseball with his dad.  
  
They treated me like I was part of the family and that's how I felt too. His mom would make meatloaf and corn bread, we would all gather around the dinner table and swap stories, just like a real family. He was like a father to me and I will always owe him for that. His father loved the New York Yankees, he was from New York and so he loved his Yankees. He would always say Mitch and I would both become baseball players and play for the Yankees.  
  
Obviously we didn't but he would always say we would be baseball players and that we would play for the New York Yankees. When his father was killed on the job, I took it hard, as if he really was my Grand Father. Because to me he was, the only one I had ever known. I shut down and Mitch was there for his mom and me. If he hadn't, I don't know how we would've got through it. I owe Mitch a lot, he never stopped pursuing the man who gunned down our hishis father and he brought him to justice. That brought closureer to his dad's death and I will owe him for the rest of my life.  
  
When his mom died, he helped me through it. I was feeling all- alone in the world and I had shut down. But he got through to me and showed me I was not alone but that I had friends and him. He touched the lives of so many people, in so many different ways. Everyone who knew him was a better person for it. His heart was as pure as gold. His spirit was one that couldn't be tamed. He was like a father to me and I will never forget him, as long as I live.  
  
A wise man named Ruben Christopher once said, "The past is the life we have lived, the present is the life we live and the future is the life we will live. But let us not forget that this life can be over in an instant. That the future is not guarenteedguaranteed to us. But as one life ends, another begins and when this life in the physical world comes to an end, we will begin a new and even better life in the spirtualspiritual world. A life of no worries or fears. We will be in a better place and our friends and family will be better people for having known us. As long as they keep us in their hearts, remember us for whowhom and what we were and if we were good people, thaen they will have no reason to cry for us. But they will be happy for us, happy that we have moved on to a better plane of existence. But with all our technology and science no can tells us when and where we will go, the only thing that is certain is that we will go. So I say to you my friends, family and my fellow man to not be afraid of the life that is ahead but of the life we have not lived. Live each and everyday to the fullest and don't waste your time with worry and regret.  
  
Because life is too short for all of those things that we deem important and spend so much time dwelling on. Remember me as I was and for who and what I was. If you do that there shall be no need for tears and sorrow, only smiles, joy, joy and laughter." That was a quote from a great and talented writer named Ruben Christopher. [you can't use your name!!]He speaks of the life not lived and we all know Mitch lived life to it's fullest. He also said that if you remember me for who and what I am, that there will be no need for tears and sorrow but for joy, smiles and laughter.  
  
So I say to you all let's not remember Mitch Buchanan and shed our tears for him, lets remember him for who he was and we will not shed our tears but we will laugh and the thought of him will bring joy to our lives just as he did when he was alive." Logan said. asAs he goes and takes his seat, as the minister gets up and once again takes the podium.  
  
"Well, thank you those who shared their memories and thoughts with us and thank you all who came today. We will now conclude our service with the song "Good-Bye to You" as sung by Sister Martha:  
  
"All the things I believed I need to just get it all over with I count the days that pass Tears form in my eyes But I won't cry These past days I try andAnd pretend  
  
Good Bye to You The friend that I knew Good-bye to all that I knew You're the one I tried to hold on to  
  
I screamed and You chased away all the worries and fears You died and I cried  
  
The pain is real But my wounds won't heal You held my hand through the years I know you are still here with me But even still I am alone after all  
  
I want you to stay But I know I have you let go  
  
Good-Bye to you And all that I knew Good-Bye to the one I tried to hold on to"  
  
Written by Ruben Christopher  
  
Sister Martha sings the song as the casket is lowered slowly into the earth. Once it is in the ground all the guests line up and drop Black Roses on the casket before it is buried for good. They all must say their final good-byes to their friend. As the last mourner drops his rose down the six-foot hole onto the casket, two men with shovels begin to pour dirt down on the casket and fill the hole. Everyone lowers their head in silence and say a prayer for their fallen friend.  
  
"Well that concludes our service for today and I wish you all the best and I know you all will get through this, just remember he's with God now.,now. Thank You all for coming." Minister Camden says as he then begins to talks to a few guests after the service. Lese thanks him for performing the service and she thanks Verna and Mathew for speaking. Logan is talking with Samantha, when Lese walks over to thank him as well.  
  
"I can't believe he's gone, I'm going to find out what really happened, I owe it to Mitch, Lese and those beautiful kids who will never see their father again." Logan said.  
  
"Excuse me Logan, I just wanted to thank you for those beautiful words that you said about Mitch." Lese said as she hugged Logan.  
  
[[why is Logan known by his last name to everyone, including his love interest?]] He prefers Logan to Miles, Logan can also be used as a first name.  
  
"It was nothing,nothing; it's the least I can do for Mitch, like I said I owe him a lot. I have a question for you, if you don't mind me asking? I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think it was important." Logan said.  
  
"Sure go ahead any thing." Lese said.  
  
"Do you know what Mitch was working on before he died?" Logan asks  
  
"What do you mean?" Lese responds.  
  
"Well I mean, do you know what his last case was before he died? I mean I know he was working on the Oyama murder but wasn't he pulled from that case?" Logan inquires.  
  
"Yes he was working on the Oyama case but the Justice Department or one of those government agencies pulled him from the case. Now that you mention it he was working on another case before that, but I don't know what it was. I think it was an under cover case because he was gone for months and than he just came back." Lese told Logan.  
"Do you know where he went for those months that he was gone?" Logan said.  
  
"No he never said, all he said was it was for work and it was important. But I over heard him on the phone talking to someone and he said the name William Edgar's.," Lese said.  
  
"William Edgar's the Pharmaceutical Billionaire, he has more money than God, I mean he owns one of the ten largest corporations around. What could Mitch be investigating about him? Maybe some kind of Corporatecorporate fraud or a murder?" Logan said.  
  
"I don't know but there was one other thing, a man named Clayton Webb came by the house once after Mitch came back. I had never seen him before but I heard him tell Mitch that: "I WAS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.". It seemed that was kind of odd but I thought nothing of it." Lese said.  
  
"Thank you Lese, you've been a big help." Logan said.  
  
"No problem glad I could help a friend of Mitch's, say why don't you come over the house later for dinner?"  
  
"Sure why not, I'll be there around seven o'clock." Logan says to Lese as she walks away and joins her children.  
  
"That's it, I got it!" Logan shouts  
  
"You got what? Milk." Samantha says puzzled.  
  
"I got the password for Mitch's flies. Look when I spoke to Mathew he told me Mitch visited him before he had died and told him he was in the neighborhood but Mitch doesn't live any where near Mathew, that was the odd thing about it. So I drove through Mathew's neighborhood and found a storage place by the same name: Neighborhood Storage. And that's where I found the disc. It was in a locker that Mitch had in the place. So maybe, just maybe he used the same password for the files." Logan suggests.  
  
"You could be right, I mean you tried everything else. That proves it." Samantha said.  
  
"Proves what?" Logan asked.  
  
"That you are smarter then you look." She says jokingly.  
  
"Anyway, I know that's it, come on we got to get back to the hotel and try it, we need to know what's on that disc. What ever it is could've gotten Mitch killed." Logan says to Samantha as they leave Shady Acres and get back in their car and drive back to the hotel. But they do not notice a man in a white sedan, who has been watching them at the funeral and is now following them from the funeral to the hotel. They arrive at the Grand Park Inn and go straight to Logan's room and pop the disckdisc into his laptop.  
  
"Finally we are going to find out just what's on this disc. Ok it's coming up now, PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD (it says on the screen). Ok sure my password is IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (he types it into the computer and hits enter. The computer takes a few moments and than says: ACCESS GRANTED (it says on the screen). We're in, I was right it was the password. Ok let's see there are five files here, Hynds Blood, Four Horsemen, Edgar's, History and Good bye. Which one should we open first?" Logan asks Samantha.  
  
"Um I think you should open the file Four Horseman." Samantha suggests  
  
"Ok let's see what we have here (he clicks in the file named four horse manmen) and the computer starts to talk and it's says:  
  
"Project Four Horseman, (as the computer says this an image of a male human appears on the screen and begins to spin around) A joint venture between the United States Military and a private civilian Genetic firm named Gen-tech. The U.S. Army was chosen to conduct the experiment due to their extensive research into creating genetically altered soilderssoldiers. Four seemingly normal humans of different backgrounds, ethnicity, weight, height and from different branches of the military were chosen to participate in this monumental experiment.  
  
Specimen Number One: Name: Jonah Smith Occupation: A Sergeant of two years in the U.S. Marine Corp. Alternate Life Occupation: Wrestler Born: In Carters Ville Georgia Background: Raised on a small farm in Carters Ville. Left home at 16 and moved to Richmond Virginia. Where he took odd jobs to make money to support himself. Joined the Marine Corp at age 18 and became Sergeant at 27. Where he remained up until the experiment. Mother: Jan Carpenter Smith Father: Abraham Smith Height: 6'4"- six feet, four inches Weight: 279 lbs.- two hundred, seventy nine pounds Eye Color: Black Hair Color: Dark Blonde Ethnicity: Caucasian Date of Birth: 01-02-1984 Code Name: Saber Tooth  
  
Specimen Number Two: Name: Robert Lee Occupation: Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Alternate Life Occupation: Lawyer Born: Osaka Japan Raised: Lived with parents until he was eighteen, than moved on to college and graduated in the top of his class. Came to America to study at Harvard University. Joined the Corp. to become a citizen. Served for four years. Mother: Kim Song Lee Father: Jackie Lee Height: 5'9"- five foot, nine inches Weight: 175 lbs.- one hundred, seventy five pounds Eye Color- Brown Hair: Black Ethnicity: Japanese Date of Birth: 02-21-1989 Code Name: Striker  
  
(Image of a woman appears and spins around on the screen)  
  
Specimen Number Three: Name: Kaya Neverate Occupation: Sniper in the U.S. Marine Corp. Alternate Life Occupation: Police Officer- SwaptSwat Team Born: Black Hawk Reservation- California Raised: Lived on the reservation until she was seventeen and than moved to San Diego California and took odd jobs to survive. She was arrested two times for petty larceny. Left San Diego after 2 years and went to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. Than joined the Marines when the acting career didn't work out. She was praised and won several awards for her marksmanship. Mother: Pocahontas Father: Grey Fox Height: 5'5"- five feet, five inches Weight: 120 lbs.-. - one hundred, twenty pounds Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Brown Ethnicity: American Indian- Navajo tribe Date of Birth: 05-09-1986 Code Name: Silver Fox  
  
(The image of the man reappears on the screen)  
  
Specimen Number Four Name: Miles Logan Occupation: Computer Analyst and Computer Hacker Alternate Life Occupation: Accountant Born: Hanford California Raised: Born in Hanford but raised in an orphanage in Chicago Illinois. Left when he was 18 and went to MIT. Joined Marines at 22 and was trained as a system analyst and computer hacker. Mother: Unknown Father: Unknown Height: 5'4"- five foot four inches Weight: 155 lbs.- one hundred, fifty five pounds Eye Color: Black Hair Color: Black Ethnicity: Puerto Rican Date of Birth: 11-17-1983 Code Name: Weapon X  
  
These four ordinary people were chosen to be part of a monumental experiment. They were altered at the genetic level, in a sense they were redisignedredesigned. InhancingEnhancing and increasing every aspect of their being. Their senses were enhanced, their strength and speed increased. They were chosen because of their unique talents and their mental toughness to be able to handle the extensive reprogramming, suppression and restructuring of their mind. Saber Tooth was chosen for his size and strength, Striker was chosen for his intelligence, Silver Fox was chosen for her marksmanship and weapon handling abilities and Miles Logan was chosen for his computer skills. Separately they were the best at what they did but together they were an unstoppable covert Opps. Force. Their memories of their old life were suppressed. Replaced by their alternate mild mannered normal personality and memories of their manufactoredmanufactured life. Never the two personalities of the killing machine and the regular citizen shall meet. Completely seperateseparate and each unaware of the other. A split personality if you will.  
  
They would ledlead a normal life that was tailored for them. All the while not knowing of their real past and what had been done to them. They would go about their normal life until they were recalled to action. Thus upon recall the alternate super soldier personality and abilities would be triggered and take over. When deactivated the everyday personality would take over, the abilities would subside and they would be totally unaware of the missions they completed. Great time and care was taken to break them down mentally and rebuild them according to our needs. Persition Precision altering was down to molding their bodies and sense into our goal. The result a history making spuersuper human being. They successfully completed over thirty missions in over a dozen countries and helped solidify this countries national security. But on their last mission together two of them were captured and presumed to be dead.  
  
Striker: MIA- Presumed Dead Silver Fox: MIA- Presumed Dead Saber Tooth: Status Active Duty Weapon X: Status Active Duty  
  
"End of Transmission."  
  
"Wow that file details what they did to you and has your and the others profile." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah but my profile is missing something the others aren't, a mother and a father. It said my mother and father were unknown. I know I have parents and that they're out there somewhere. But it did tell me more about my comrades." Logan said.  
  
"Yes and it said that Saber Tooth is still alive, you could go and find him." Samantha suggests.  
  
"Maybe, all I have is a list of names. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle and if I find them maybe, just maybe I can find out who I am and what the hell happened to me. I wonder what the other files contain. I'll try this file named Edgar's and see what's inside (he clicks on the Edgar's file but it doesn't open, it asks for a password. So he types in I was in the neighborhood but it gets rejected)" Logan said.  
  
"It looks like he pass coded each file separately, each with a different password. Yeah Mitch was smart and if he knew someone was after him he would have taken extra precautions to protect what ever it is he had." Logan said  
  
"But what could the password be this time?" Samantha said.  
  
"I don't know, let me think here, um maybe his kids names. (He types in each of their names but they are also rejected) Damn, come Mitch give me a clue, what did you use." Logan said.  
  
"Well we don't have time for this now it's almost time to go over Lese's and have dinner."  
  
"Oh yeah your right, we need to change and get going, let me shower, change and than I'll drop you off at your house so you can do the same. Than we can go over together. Or better yet how about this, you can take my car and go home to shower and change, while I stay here and do the same. Than you can come back and pick me up." Logan suggests.  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Samantha said.  
  
"Here are my car keys (he tosses them to her). And don't take forever to get ready either, you know how you are."  
  
"I won't I'll be back in an hour, I promise." Samantha said.  
  
"Ok I am going to hold you to that, (she then proceeds to leave out the door, she gets half way out when he stops her) and Samantha be safe."  
  
"I will don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She walks out the door and closes it, walks over to the car and drives away. As she does he watches her through the window until she rounds the corner and leaves.  
  
One hour later Logan has taken a shower, changed and has been waiting for twenty minutes. He keeps pacing back and forth and looking out the window anxiously waiting for her to return. The thought crosses his mind that maybe she has met with foul play.  
  
"Damn Samantha where are you? How long does it take to shower and change? (He says to himself) Maybe I should try calling her. (He walks over to the bed and sits down. He picks up the phone and calls her house) No answer, Hi Samantha this is Logan calling trying to find out where you are, you should've been here twenty minutes ago. Well I guess you already left, so I'll just wait some more, alright bye." (He hangs up the phone) Logan said.  
  
Just than he begins to just barely hear a voice coming from the room next to his. He moves closer to the wall to listen to what is being said. He puts his ear to the wall and tries to make out what the man is saying.  
  
"Yeah I found him, No he doesn't suspect a thing. Oh yeah I'll continue to watch and follow him. Ok over and out." Logan over here's the man. It appears he was talking to someone on the phone.  
  
Than someone knocks on the door and Logan is startled by the sudden knock. He cautiously moves to the door and looks through the peephole to see who it is and discovers its Samantha dressed in a black strapless dress.  
  
"Hello are you in there? Come on open up and let's go, stopping fouling around." Samantha says.  
  
Logan opens up the door and walks through it and makes sure he locks the door behind him. "Ok come on let's go (he grabs her arm and leads her on to the car), you got the keys?" Logan asks in a worried tone.  
  
"Yeah right here, why?" Samantha pulls them from her pocket.  
  
"Ok good you can drive. Wait look at that." Logan said.  
  
"At what? (She turns her head and looks around)" Samantha said.  
  
"The little old lady coming out of the room next door to me." Logan said to Samantha.  
  
"Yeah so what about her." She says, as she seems clueless as to what is going on  
  
"Get her license plate too will you. A937068 is that right?"  
  
"Yeah but you still haven't told me what's going on." Samantha says.  
  
"I'll tell you later, what type of car is that, a dark blue Chevrolet Malibu got it. Ok get in and let's go." Logan says to Samantha as they get in, watch the old lady get in her car and drive away.  
  
"You still haven't told me what that was about." She asks in an attempt to find out.  
  
"Never mind I'll tell you on the way just drive. (She starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot onto the street) Is anyone following us? (He looks in the right side mirror) No, good." Logan said.  
  
"Ok now you better tell me what's going on." She demands.  
  
"Ok, did that lady look in anyway, shape or form suspicious to you?" Logan asks.  
  
"No not really, well maybe just a little, why?" She asks  
  
"Well right before you came I over heard a man talking to someone on the phone in the next room." Logan said.  
  
"And that's it, you heard a man talking to someone on the phone and that's what's got you paranoid?" Samantha said in a joking tone.  
  
"No not just that it was what he said. He said he found him, he doesn't suspect a thing and he is going to continue to follow him. And at no time did I hear a ladies voice." Logan said.  
  
"So what conclusion has your little mind come up with?" Samantha asked jokingly.  
  
"I think the she is a he. I think it's a man posing as a lady in disguise." Logan said.  
  
"So you think she or he is a cross dresser. That's ridiculous, I mean she does look a little masculine but a cross dresser in disguise, no." Samantha says skeptically.  
  
"I think he's been following us and is disguising himself as a lady. Which reminds me I need to write his plates down, so I can have Mathew run them and find out more about whom this guy really is." Logan said.  
  
"Ok, so let's say hypothetically that your right, why is he following you, what's his motive?" Samantha poses this question to Logan.  
  
"I don't know, he didn't say, but I'm going to find out. Maybe he's in league with those guys in black suites that followed us at the club or maybe he's working for someone else. It wouldn't at all surprise me if I'm right, none of this makes any sense." Logan said in confusion.  
  
"If he was working with the men in black suites, I doubt you would be here talking to me now. Don't worry we will get to the bottom of this, together, you can count on me." Samantha said.  
  
"Thank you Samantha you a good friend, I just want this all to be over and find out who the hell I am, who I really am. Turn here and go straight, it's the third house down on the right." Logan directs her.  
  
Chapter Six  
"Time to Let Go"  
  
"As we approach Mitch's house I couldn't help but feel a little nervous about what lies ahead. But I was ready to face what comes, no matter what it was. I buried the best friend I ever had and I still don't know why. I still don't have really anymore answers than I did when I started out. But I do know that at least one of my former teammates is still living among us and the other two are gone. Now I must face Lese and those two beautiful fatherless kids. I must look into all of their eyes knowing full well what I did. Knowing that their father and her husband might have died because of me. How could I face them now after all that I have done to them and they don't even have a clue? But I must press on, it's now time to let go and move on but never forget." Logan says.  
  
"This one here?" Samantha asks Logan as she pulls the car into the driveway of a brown mid sized home in the suburbs a top a windy road on a hill.  
  
"Yeah this is it all right, Mitch's House." Logan whispers to himself. She shuts the car engine off and the two just sit there staring at the house.  
  
"You ok?" Samantha asks as she looks at Logan.  
  
"Yeah fine, I can do this, no sweat. Come on lets go in." Logan says as he gets out of the car and Samantha follows. The two walk up to the door. Samantha takes his hand and holds it all the way up the walkway.  
  
"Well this is it (he knocks on the door twice. The door opens and a little girl is standing there. She is dress in a pretty pink dress and she has pigtails), Hi their Hilary is your mommy home?" Logan asks the little girl in a playful voice.  
  
"Hi Logan, yeah mommies here. Come in, don't be a stranger (she grabs his hand and pulls him inside), so who's your girlfriend?" Hillary said.  
  
"She's not my girlfriend, she's my friend. So how have you been?" Logan asks as he picks young Hilary up.  
  
"Fine thanks, let me get mommy for you. Mommy!! Logan and his girlfriend are here (he puts her down and she runs to the kitchen. Than seconds later she comes back out pulling her mom behind her)  
  
"I'm sorry about that, thank you for coming. (She hugs Logan and shakes Samantha's hand) Dinners almost ready, you can wait in the dinning room. Hilary escort are guests to the dinning room." Lese said to her daughter Hilary.  
  
"Ok mommy, here follow me everybody (she takes both their hands and pulls them into the dinning room). Logan you can sit here and your girlfriend can sit here next to you. And I'll sit here across from you, mommy can sit here next to me and my brother can sit here on my other side." ," Hilary said as everyone sits down at the table and than Lese comes in carry the food. She places a tray of meatloaf down on the table.  
  
"Ok I'll be right back with the mashed potatoes and the apple pie for dessert." She says and than walks back into the kitchen and comes back out with a bowl of mashed potatoes and a pie and places them down on the table.  
  
"It looks delicious Lese." Logan said.  
  
"Yeah it does, you must be a good cook." Samantha complements Lese.  
  
"Thank you both (she says and seems to be distracted), where's your brother? Mitch Jr. you get your butt down here now!!" Lese shouts at here son Mitch Jr.  
  
A few moments later a little boy dress in a suite and bow tie comes stomping in and has a seat to the right of his sister.  
  
"Why do I have to dress like this? I hate wearing these clothes." He proclaims to the whole table.  
  
"Because I said so, now don't make a fuss about it. Well Let'slet's eat." Lese said.  
  
"Meatloaf again but we had that a few nights ago." Mitch Jr. said.  
  
"Yes meatloaf again and you'll eat it and like it." Lese firmly says.  
  
"Say Mitch Jr. how's school going?" Logan said.  
  
"Good I guess but I miss my dad."  
  
"Yeah I miss your dad too but you know he's not really gone."  
  
"He's not?" Hilary asks puzzled.  
  
"No He's not, you know why?"  
  
"Why?" Mitch Jr. said.  
  
"Because as long as we keep him in our hearts and our thoughts he will never really be gone now will he?" Logan said.  
  
"Well I guess so but how do we do that?" Hilary said.  
  
"Well just think of your father and all the good things he did. He was a good man and a lot of people cared about him very much but as long as we keep him in here (he places his hand on his chest), he'll never be gone. He'll be with us forever, he's in a better place now and when people we love go to this special place, well their never gone if we keep them in our hearts and our thoughts." Logan explains.  
  
"He's right children your father will never be gone, he's with us." Lese said.  
  
"Than why did he go away?" Mitch Jr. asks.  
  
"Well because it was his time to go on a trip to the special place."  
  
"What's this special place like? Is it pretty?" Hilary asks.  
  
"Yeah it's very pretty,pretty; there'sthere are big green trees and flowers everywhere. The sky is always blue and there are nice people everywhere. There is nothing to be afraid of and there are no worries. Everyone is happy. He's watching us right now, smiling down from the special place. He wants us to be just as happy as he is." Logan said.  
  
"Children why don't you go upstairs to your rooms and I'll be there to read you a bedtime story." Lese says to the children, the get up from the dinner table and proceed to leave the dinning room to go upstairs. But Hilary stops and goes back and kisses Logan on the cheek. " Thank"Thank you uncleUncle Logan" Hilary said. Than she leaves the dining room and goes upstairs to her room.  
  
"Thank for that, you're really good with them. I have been trying to explain to them what happened ever since Mitch died but I just didn't know how." Lese said.  
  
"I know, it's never easy to loose someone you love, especially the way he died. I mean you and I are adults and can deal with it because it's happened to us before but for them, they're so young and don't grasp the concept of death." Logan said.  
  
"Yeah I know I lost my father a few years ago, so I know what it means to loose someone you really love. Those kids have never had to deal with it" Samantha said.  
  
"How can you at that age, I lost my father too when I was about their age, so I know what their going through. We all deal with the pain and confusion in different ways. Their strong kids and will get through it." Lese says to Logan and Samantha.  
  
Logan looks at Lisa with a bit of a surprised look on his face. "Thank you both for coming." Lese said.  
  
"We talked about how the kids are dealing with it but what about you Lese?" Logan asks.  
  
"Oh I'll survive, it'll be hard without him but I have no choice but to go on, I have to be strong for those kids. They depend on me for so much, if they see me cry and break down..., I have to be strong for them." Lese said holding back tears.  
  
"If you need anything don't hesitate to call me." Logan said.  
  
"Logan may I ask you a question?" Lese asked  
  
"Sure Lisa anything." Said Logan.  
  
"Do you think Mitch really died the way they said he did? I mean it just doesn't add up, he was not a drinker and would not have drovedriven drunk. You were with him before he died,died; tell me did he seem like himself?" Lese asks Logan.  
  
"No, he was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. There's no way he could've drove off that cliff drunk." Logan said.  
  
"Then why are they saying he did, is it some kind of cover up or what?" Lese asked with doubt in her voice.  
  
"I think he was murdered." Logan tells Lisa.  
  
"Murdered, by whom? Who would want my husband dead, maybe someone he busted once?" Lisa asks trying to understand what Logan has just told her.  
  
"I think it had to do with the Oyama murder. You told me that he was gone for months working on a case and when he came back he didn't say where he went or what he was doing." Said Logan.  
  
"No he just said never mind ever time I brought it up. Than that strange man Clayton Webb came over to the house. It was odd but I thought nothing of it and than a few months later Mitch is killed. But what does it all mean?" Lese said.  
  
"I don't know, all I have are a list of names and questions and few and far between on answers. This man Clayton Webb, what did he look like?" Logan inquires.  
  
"Well he was about average height, I would say maybe 5'9" and he was about average weight. He had black hair and I think brown eyes. He was a white man and he was dressed in a fine suite and drove some kind of a Chevy." Lese describes.  
  
"What color was the car?" Logan asks.  
  
"I don't know maybe blue or green."  
  
"Dark or light?" Logan asks.  
  
"I think it was dark, yes dark blue or green, I'm sure if it." Lese said.  
  
"Thank you, you've been a big help. I don't know what exactly is going on but I do know there's a cover up going on. The F.B.I and the police have been pulled from the case by the Justice Department. Which means that this goes higher than the F.B.I., how high I don't know but I am going to find out.This means that this goes higher than the F.B.I., how high I don't know but I am going to find out." Logan said.  
  
"What do you think is going on?" Lese asks.  
  
"I have my theories but I can't tell you because I don't want you involved, if they can kill Mitch than they might come after you, thinking you know something." Logan explains.  
  
"I don't know anything, why would they come after me?" Lese asks.  
  
"Maybe they don't know that, that's why I want you and the kids to be on guard, if you notice anything out of the ordinary or strange than please call me, anytime." Logan tells Lese.  
  
"Ok, yeah sure anything. If you need any help just call me and I'll do the best I can because I want to know who killed my husband and what really happened." Lese said.  
  
"I know, so do I, well I think we better be going now, thank you for the lovely dinner. "." He gets up from the table and Samantha gets up as well they both hug Lese and make their way to the door. Lese walks the two to the door and they leave. Lese shuts the door behind them and they get in their car and drive off.  
  
"I didn't know your father died when you were younger, you never told me that in all the years I've known you." Logan said surprised.  
  
"Yeah I know it's not something I like to share with people. It's really personal you know what I mean?" Samantha says in a low tone of voice.  
  
"Yeah I can relate to that." Logan said.  
  
"So what now? Where do we go from here?" Samantha inquires.  
  
"Well I'm going to call Mathew and have him run the plates of that guy or ladies car and see what turns up." Logan said.  
  
"Sounds good, I'll stop by my house to drop myself off and you can take your car and call me tomorrow." Samantha said  
  
"All right, you know I meant what I said to Lese, I am going to find out what happened to Mitch and uncover all these Secrets and Lies. There are more secrets hidden in those files that need to be uncovered and we have more lies to find the truth to from our friend from next door, who ever it is man or women." Logan said to Samantha as she dropped herself off at her house and he continued back to his hotel room.  
  
(On His Cell Phone) "Hey Matt this is Logan."  
  
"Hi. Hhow are you?" Matthew says over the phone.  
  
"Yeah fine thanks,thanks; say I need you to do me a favor. I need you to run this license plate number to a dark blue Chevy Malibu for me. You got a pen and paper." Logan asked  
  
"Yeah all right, go ahead." Matthew said.  
  
"Good. Ok here it is A937060, yeah that's right 60, you got it?" Logan asked  
  
"Yeah I got it, what is this about?" Matthew asks.  
  
"Good, it has to do with MitchesMitch's death. Now I would appreciate it if you would get back to me tomorrow if possible."  
  
"Ok I'll try, I call you on your cell phone." Matthew said.  
  
"Great thanks Matt, take care, all right bye." Logan says as he hangs up his cell phone.  
  
Chapter Seven  
"Not Alone Anymore"  
  
"I lied awake the whole night trying to get some sleep but had no luck. I couldn't get what happened to Mitch and Oyama off my mind. I couldn't get the fact that this all is one big lie, my entire life a lie. What else could go wrong, I won't be getting any answers from Oyama because he was murdered. I can't crack the code on Mitch's disc, so that too is a dead end. It seems like every road leads to a dead end. Where do I go from here and do I even want to go from here. Maybe this will all go away, maybe since Oyama is dead the hole thing will just disappear. But what about Mitch's death, I owe it to him to find the truth. I don't know anything anymore." Logan said as someone knocks twice on his hotel room door.  
  
"Who is it?" Logan says as he peeks out the window to see a short, bald, fat man standing outside his door. The man is wearing a long black trench coat, a hat and dark sunglasses.  
  
"Miles, open up, hurry, please open the door." The man said.  
  
"Who are you?" Logan asks.  
  
"First let me in, someone might see me out here. Please I have information about Project Four Horsemen." The Man said, so Logan opens the door and the man goes inside. He takes off his hat, coat, glasses and puts them down on the bed.  
  
"Ok, I let you in, now tell me who you are and what you know about Project Four Horsemen." Logan demands.  
  
"May I?" The Man asks to sit down on the bed, Logan nods yes, so the man does so. Logan pulls up the desk chair next to the bed and sits down.  
  
"Ok, now what do you know?" Logan said.  
  
"Let me start by saying my name is Robert Kessler and I was Dr. Oyama's assistant. We worked together on the Four Horsemen Project. Actually I helped him create the Four Horsemen Project." Dr. Kessler said.  
  
"So you helped Oyama create me and the others?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yes that's correct, we designed and implemented the Four Horsemen Project. We altered several aspects of your physiology at the genetic level. All in an attempt to create the perfect soldier." Dr. Kessler explained.  
  
"You mean create the perfect killer?" Logan said.  
  
"Well yes in a way but it didn't start out that way. We wanted to improve the lives of man kind. We wanted to cure disease, end world hunger. We never intended for the program to be used in such a way." Kessler said.  
  
"Hum most of the worlds greatest horrors and atrocities were created by men with noble intensions. You are no different from the rest." Logan said.  
  
"No you are wrong Mr. Logan, we designed the program for good and not for evil. It wasn't until the Military and the government found out about our research, that's when everything changed. That's when the noble intensions of two noble scientists, turned into the cruel and sadistic intensions of power mad leaders. They forced us to alter the program to be adapted for the Weapon X super soldier program." Kessler said.  
  
"Weapon X, that's my code name?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yes, you were the first of the four to be experimented on, that's why you were given the code name Weapon X. Later when the others were created the program was changed to Four Horsemen. But you were the very first super soldier ever created by human hands." He said.  
  
"I feel honored." Logan said sarcastically.  
  
"As you should, it's a quite an honor. Or it would have been if our dream hadn't turned to a nightmare." Kessler said.  
  
"Nightmare for you, no doctor it's been a nightmare for me. Finding out I'm not who I thought I was. Why are you here?" Logan asks.  
  
"Because I didn't know where else to turn. They are after me just like they went after Oyama. I am afraid the end result will be the same if I am caught. You were my only hope." He said in fear.  
  
"Who is after you?" Logan asks.  
  
"They are government agents. About a week after Oyama died two men in black suites showed up at my home, looking for me. My dear wife told them that she didn't know of my where abouts, that we had split up, so that they would think I moved out and she wouldn't be hurt. I have not been home since because I can't risk them seeing me there and hurt her to get to me. So I had no where else to turn but to you." Kessler said.  
  
"What do you want me to do?" Logan said.  
  
"I want you to help me hide out, they can not find me or they will force me to tell them what I know and they can not learn my secrets. You must help me, for the sake of the man kind." Kessler pleads with Logan.  
  
"Ok, I'll help you, I believe you know more then what you are letting on and I want to know what that is before I help you." Logan demands.  
  
"Agreed, what do you want to know?" Kessler responds.  
  
"Who am I?" Logan asked.  
  
"I don't know, we got you guys after they had wiped your memory. We only dealt with the physical aspects of the Weapon X/Four Horsemen project. We were told nothing of your past lives. But you do have a past life, a life before the project. What I can tell you is that you do have a mother and father and as far as I, know they are still alive, where I don't know. I managed to get some information with my security clearance before I went on the run. I am truly sorry for my role in all of this, I only wish I could make it up to you, to you all." Kessler says sympathetically.  
  
"What do you mean you guys? The others, are they still alive too? That I am not alone anymore?" Logan said.  
  
"Yes, Saber Tooth, Silver Fox and Striker are still alive, at least last I heard, but that was some time ago. I don't know if they are today or where they might be. I only had minimal clearance." He said.  
  
"So why are those goons after you?" Logan asked.  
  
"Because of what we know. Oyama and I were the architects of the project. We were pioneers of genetic research. We were two young, wide eyed, naïve scientists. We wanted to do so much good for the world but ended up doing such harm. You and the others were altered at the genetic level. Your strength was increased, your senses enhanced, even your ability to heal after sever trauma was also enhanced. So that if you were injured in the battled field, you would be able to heal and continue the mission. We were going to use our break troughs to cure disease, help people grow a new limb that is lost. We wanted to change the world and we did just not in the way we wanted. Yes are intensions were noble but we also had our selfish reasons too. Oyama had terminal cancer and was going to die. So it was all the more reason to further our research. We could have wiped out disease, suffering throughout the entire world. But some where along the way, we lost our way. We lost sight of why we began our research." Kessler explains.  
  
"That is amazing at what you were able to accomplish in such a short time. If it had worked out the way you wanted, it would have been the best thing that ever happened to the world. It still isn't to late for it." Logan said.  
  
"Yes it is, Oyama became consumed with finishing the project, to cure his cancer and once it was cured he became a different man. When the Army found out about what we were doing, they demanded we help them. I refused too, I thought it was insane. I wanted our research to be used for good but Oyama had other ideas. He was intrigued by the idea of creating a super soldier, a perfect human being. He agreed, I declined and wanted no part of it, but unfortunately we had completed our research and he no longer needed me. So he used our findings to create you four. It made me sick to my stomach at what he had done. However I was powerless to stop it. The world, the Earth Force Alliance has changed too. It is not the force for good and peace anymore. There have been great shifts in power recently. That's why I can't let them catch me, with Oyama dead, I am the only one who can resurrect our research. Who knows what they will do now, what horrors will be spawned this time. I shutter when I think of all the horrors that were created from our research all those years ago." Kessler said sadly.  
  
"What do you mean other horrors that were created all those years ago. Why do I get the feeling you are not talking just about the four of us. Were there more super soldiers created?" Logan asked eagerly.  
  
"I don't know, there could have been dozens more created, thousands even. The original plan was to create an army of super soldiers, but whether that was done I don't know. With the fall out of World War 3, many of the other scientists who also worked on the project, were scattered through out the globe. Free to pursue their own experiments, with out restrictions or boundaries. Unspeakable things came from that. It was like a genetic free for all. Who could out do the other with their own creation. I believe unholy creatures were created. Those two hikers that were discovered in the Andes, the ones who were ripped apart, their limbs were torn right from their bodies. Some limbs were not even found, they said it was done by a beast, a creature, some kind of animal. A bear or lion perhaps but I believe it was done by a creature not of nature but of man." Kessler said.  
  
"So you think they were killed by something created by one of those rogue scientists. That the boundaries of creation and nature were broken?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yes I believe so, how much I don't know but I don't even want to think about what else the mind of man dreamed up and created. That is the future that awaits us Mr. Logan, that and much more. That is why I must never be caught, I don't want my research to be used for that again, ever again. I take some responsibility for what has happened to you and what subsequently resulted from my research. I must be made to atone for my sins and my crimes against mother nature." Kessler said regretfully.  
  
"Yes you do have a lot to answer for but that is between you and your maker. Not me or anyone else to punish you. You are right, you can't be allowed to be caught, the out come would be disastrous. I will wire some money into an account that I will set up for you. You can use the money to get out of town. You can go to this little fishing village up north in Alaska. It's secluded and pretty much cut off from the world. No one will know who you are or mush less come looking for you. You need to seek out a man named Illo Calano. He is a fisherman who will help you get set up there. Just tell him Miles Logan sent you, you'll be safe there and you will have my cell number if you need anything or if you are in trouble, you can call me. Your family can join you later on, when the heat dies down." Logan said.  
  
"Thank you Mr. Logan, I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me. I meant what I said earlier. I am truly sorry for what has happened to you." Kessler said remorsefully.  
  
"I really appreciate that, I'll give you a call in the next few days. It will take a little while to set every thing up." Logan said as Kessler writes down his number on a hotel note pad. He leaves the note pad on the desk and then he leaves. Logan just stands there in shock of what has just happened. It is as if time has just stood still.  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
"I Can Stop The Pain, If I Will it All Away"  
  
"I couldn't believe the revelations that Kessler had told me. I couldn't sleep even more now, than before. So I thought I would take a stroll in town to clear my head. I left my hotel room and took a nice long refreshing walk down main street. It was late and it was freezing outside. It was too cold for my blood, so I began to head home. But on my way home, I passed by a ally and saw a woman being mugged by three men. So I thought I would help out." Logan said as he creeps up into the dark ally slowly.  
  
"Please I don't have a lot of money, here you can have it." The woman says terrified as she gives the men a few dollars from her purse.  
  
"Fifty credits!" The First Man says out loud.  
  
"That's all, fifty credits, you better come up with some more than just fifty credits."  
  
"Yeah, like that gold watch on wrist. Give it to me." The Second Man demanded, she is backed into a corner and is cowering in the corner.  
  
"Yeah give us the watch and we won't hurt her. We promise."  
  
"Hey leave her alone!" Logan demands as he slowly walks over to the men. The focus their attention on him. They turn their backs on her and the woman takes the opportunity to run away. Logan is left with the three men forming a circle around him. One of the men pulls out a knife and waves it in the air.  
  
"What are you going to do with that." Logan said to the man with the knife as he lunges forward at Logan, who side steps and grabs the mans hand. He wrestles the knife away from the man and knocks him to the floor. The other two men jump onto Logan and try to get him down to the ground. Logan uses his super human strength to throw the two men into the air. The two men hit the wall and slide to the ground. When they get up the are shocked at the strength of Logan and they just run away. Logan watches the two men retreating and doesn't notice the third man rising up and grabbing the knife. Logan turns around and the man stabs him in the abdomen.  
  
After the man just laughs and runs away into the cold dark night. Logan falls to the floor in a pool of blood. there is no one in sight to help Logan. He crawls over to a dumpster and leans up against it. He senses he end is near if he does not get help soon, as he will bleed to death. But he doesn't have the strength in him to crawl and get help. He has lost so much blood, that he is going in and out of consciousness. Not even his super human strength can save him, he is loosing too much blood. Then Logan goes unconscious and is no longer moving.  
  
"Hey, hey, you sorry piece of crap. Wake up, wake up Logan." A familiar voice shouts to Logan. Logan begins to slowly come around but is not fully aware of who he is and what is going on.  
  
"Who. Who are you?" Logan says vaguely and incoherently.  
  
"Who am I, look at me and you tell me who I am. Look at me!" The Man Demands.  
  
Logan slowly raises and turns his head to gaze upon the man. He squints his eyes to focus in on the mans face. "You, you, you are me." Logan said stuttering.  
  
"That's right, ding, ding, ding, tell him what he's won Johnny. Congratulations Logan you finally got something right. Well half right, I am you in a way, I am a manifestation of you. Now can lighting strike twice, can you tell me why I am here." Logan's Image asks.  
  
"Who are you?" Logan asks.  
  
"Come on Logan, focus, why am I here!" Logan's Image Demands. "I don't know, you look like me, ah." Shouts in agony.  
  
"Good, now why the hell am I here! Focus Logan!" The Image Demands.  
  
"I don't know, I have to go, I need help." Logan says as he tries to crawl away put it is too painful and he cries out in pain.  
  
"That's right, I am here to help you, why I don't know but yet I digress. I am hear to help your sorry ass live. Now pick yourself up off of the ground and crawl your way out of here. So both of us can go home." Logan's Image demands.  
  
"No, I can't, I need help, help me." Logan said.  
  
"I'm trying to but you have to help yourself first. Look at you the mighty Miles Logan, Weapon X, is cowering behind a dumpster in an ally begging for his pathetic life. You make me sick." He said.  
  
"No, no, I need help, I am dying, I, I." Logan said fading in and out of consciousness.  
  
"Huh, damn this is going to be harder than I thought. Don't you to live man, don't you want to wake up tomorrow. What's wrong with you, most people would be biting, clawing, scratching there way to live. Most people would spit in the face of death. But no not you, not Miles Logan, he can't even pick himself up off the dirty ground. You are pathetic, you disgust me." The Image said.  
  
"No, I want to live but I can't, I need help, blood, I'm loosing Blood. Help me." Logan pleads with the Image of himself.  
  
"You Don't get it, I can only do so much, you have to help yourself. You have to pick yourself up from the ground. I know you have doubts about your life and who you are. But you can't let that stop you. You are Miles Logan and you will all ways be Miles Logan. No matter what, not Weapon X and not who you were. You are Miles Logan and you have to want to live. Do it for yourself man, do it for the others, do it for Mitch. You need to avenge his death, you need to discover your past." The Image said.  
  
"Mitch, Samantha, Fox, I need to find them. I need to know who I am." Logan said.  
  
"Yes, that's it, he can be taught. Now come on, muster up that super human strength and get up. Come on, you can do it." The Image said.  
  
"No, I can't do it, I'm dying." Logan said as he falls unconscious.  
  
"Dam met Logan, don't you die on me, don't you dare die on me. You hear me, hey wake up!" Logan's Image shouts and Logan comes too.  
  
"There you see, I can help you but you have to want to live. That fire that burns inside of you has to burn again, to many people are counting on you." He said.  
  
"Live, I want to live, I don't want to die. So many questions, so many lies, so little time." Logan said.  
  
"Yes, you want to know the truth, you want to know the answers don't you. But you won't find them if you are dead, you have to want to live dam met. Get up! Come on Logan, I know you have it in you. Get up! Get up! You can stop the pain, if you just will it all away. You can will it all away but you have to want to, come on Logan." The Image shouts.  
  
"I want to live, I want to live!" Logan shouts as he slowly rises to his feet, until he is standing on his own two feet. He is weak and wobbly, he is using the dumpster to hold himself up.  
  
"Good Miles, That's it, that's the first step. You are standing tall, come on Miles, you are half way there. Go on Miles walk out of here." He said.  
  
"I can't, too weak, can barely stand." Logan said.  
  
"No, you can, you are Miles Logan. That is who you are and who you will all ways be, no matter what. You have it in you, all you have to do is want it. You need to have the desire to want to live. I know it's in there, I have seen it before. Where is that man that loves to defy the odds and do what people said he can't. I give up, you sorry pile of crap, you can't walk out of here. You are nothing, go ahead crawl back into your little corner, behind your dumpster and die. Die alone, in this cold, dark ally. Alone by yourself, just like Striker, just like Fox, just like Mitch. Be a weak pathetic human. Go on give up. You know you want to." He said.  
  
"No, no, I want to live." Logan said in agony as he stumbles his way to the entry way of the ally and out to the street. He is holding his wound with his left hand. His shirt is stained with blood and his hand is covered red with his own blood. He is sweating and barely keeping himself awake. Yet he perseveres, his shear will and determination are driving him to save himself. He is knocking down, glass bottles, trash cans but he is not letting anything stand in his way.  
  
After what seemed to be hours of pain staking steps he has made it out of the ally and into the street. Some passer Byers see him and rush to his side. As he walks out, he stops, turns his head to look back at the Image of himself and says: "I want to live." Than he collapses and falls to the ground. The people call 911 and shortly after an ambulance arrives. He is loaded into it and taken away. The people are dumfounded as he seemed to be saying I want to live at someone in the ally. Yet they found no trace of another human being there.  
  
Chapter NineSeven  
"May Old Acquaintance not be Forgot After allAll"  
  
I sat up last night thinking about the dinner at Lese's house. I thought it went rather well considering the circumstances. I also tried to crack that disc but yet again had no luck doing so. It's going to be harder than I thought to uncover all these secrets and lies that surround me but if it's the last thing I ever do I will find the truth and knowing my luck it will be the last thing I ever do. I was anxious to find out whom the car belonged to and uncover my neighbor's true identity. It seems like no one is who he or she appears to be. Then something happened that I had been waiting for all night.  
  
The phone rings and Logan is awakened by it. He rolls over and reaches for the phone and picks it up. "Hello (he says in a low sleepy voice, as he rubs his eye) Hi Matt, hey what's up?" Logan said.  
  
"You sound like you just woke up." Matt says over the phone.  
  
"Yeah I did, (he looks at the clock) It'sit's seven thirty in the morning." Logan said still in a low sleepy voice.  
  
"Don't you have to go to work?" Matthew inquires.  
  
"No I took some permanent leave." Logan replied.  
  
"So in other words you quit?" Matt said.  
  
"Yeah, I need to pursue this and I can't do that with a job tying me down. Besides I have enough saved up for to live off for a while and I am one of the best accountants out there, so I won't have any problem finding work. This is more important to me. I need to find out who I am and what happened to me and Mitch. So what do you have for me, I assume it's important or you wouldn't have called so early." Logan tells Matthew.  
  
"Well I ran those plates and the results came back. It appears the car is registered to a man named Richard T. Hagen. It's registered to the state of New York, actually up state New York or more specifically Port Charles. You got a pen and paper so I can give you the address?" Mathew says to Logan.  
  
"Yeah go ahead (he pulls a hotel note pad and pencil from the drawer), Ok that's 1392 Ridgeway drive, Port Charles, New York, 87924. Ok got thanks Matt, I owe you one; yeah I'll be careful. (He hangs up the phone and than picks it back up a few seconds later and makes another call.) Hello American Airlines good I need to book a seat on the first available flight to Port Charles New York. Ah Huh today at nine o'clock in the morning, good that's in about an hour and a half. Ok and it's leaving out of Ontario airport? Ok I got it and how much is the round trip ticket? It's two hundred and thirty dollars and what about one-way trip? One hundred and forty dollars, I'll take the round trip ticket, thanks." (Hangs Up)  
  
"Ok now time to pack my stuff and get the hell out of here." Logan said as he starts to pack his cloths and his laptop. An hour later he leaves for the airport and by the time he gets done checking in and going through baggage claim, he barely has enough time to board his flight.  
  
"Welcome passengers to American Airlines flight 678 none stop to Port Charles New York. Our captain John Smith would like to remind all his passengers to remain in their seats until take off and keep their seat belts fastened at all times. In the event of a-water landing your seat can be used as a floatation device. If the cabin should become depressurized your breathing masks will drop from the over-head compartment. My name is Sandy and I'm the head stewardess and I would like to wish you all a happy and safe flight and thank you for flying American Airlines." Sandy said over the loud speaker of the plane.  
  
He pulls his cell phone from his pocket and makes a call as the plane gets ready for take off. "Hi Samantha It's me Logan, Umm I don't know how to say this so here it goes. I'm currently on a flight to Port Charles New York. Matt ran the plates and the car belongs to a man named Richard T. Hagen. I'm guessing that Richard T. Hagen is General Hag from my flashback. So I'm going to check it out. (He looks down at his watch) it's about nine forty right now, we should land around twelve thirty in the afternoon. I'll call you around three after I check into the hotel. All right well that's it so I'll talk to you later, bye." About three hours later the plane lands at Port Charles international airport. He takes a cab to the Port Charles hotel and gets a room for a few nights. He walks into his room and puts his luggage on the rack and he lies down on the bed and falls asleep. Five hours later he wakes up and looks at the clock.  
  
"Damn I must have over slept, that jet lag is a bitch. Six o'clock, I need to call Sam. (Picks up the phone and dials) Hey Sam it's me again and I know I was supposed to call you hours ago but I fell asleep and over slept, it's that jet lag thing. But anyway I am here in Port Charles at the P.C. Hotel, if you need to reach me just call me at 848-555-9087, room 415. You got it ok well I'll talk to you later. (Hangs up the phone) I'm hungry I wonder what they got to eat at the P.C. Grill down stairs" He gets up from his bed and walks out the room. He gets into a near by elevator and goes down to the lobby. He walks through the lobby and looks at all the guests checking in, than he comes to a restaurant named The P.C. Grill. He goes in and the head- waiter shows him to a table about fifteen feet from the bar. The waiter gives him a menu and he leaves telling him he will be right back.  
  
Logan looks over the menu to see what looks good. With his head buried into the menu he doesn't notice the beautiful brunet that has just walked in and sat down at the bar. She orders a drink and looks around casually to see if she knows anyone in the room. Logan puts his menu down and he catches her eye. She turns away quickly and he sees her but doesn't get a good look at her face. He thinks he might know her but is not sure, so he leaves his table and goes up to the bar and sits down right beside her. She turns her head in the other direction so he won't see her face.  
  
"I'll have a Scotch on the rocks, thank you. ,." Logan said. He turns his head to look at the back of hers. Than he raises his hand and taps her on the shoulder.  
  
"Excuse me miss do I know you from somewhere?" he asks the mystery lady.  
  
"That's just like you Logon, still using the same old lame pick up lines to get women. It didn't work then and it's not going to work now. (She turns around to reveal her face to Logan) You still haven't changed one bit over all these years." She says to Logan.  
  
"Anna, it can't be you. But how, what are you doing here, I thought you moved back to England?" Logan said.  
  
"Well pleased to see you again too Logan. I did but I'm just here visiting someone. So what are you doing here in this neck of the woods?" Anna asks.  
  
"Oh I'm ah, just visiting too. So you here by yourself?" Logan inquires in an attempt to seehe if she is seeing anyone.  
  
"Yeah I am, how about you?" she inquires.  
  
"Not any more, you want to join me?" Logan asks.  
  
"Sure why not, it'll be just like old times." They both get up from the bar and walk back over to his table. He pulls her chair out for her and than he sits down himself. Then the waiter comes and interrupts them.  
  
"Are we ready to order yet? Oh I see you have a lady friend now. So are we both ready to order now?" The waiter says to the couple.  
  
"Don't worry Anna it's my treat, so order what ever you want." Logan said.  
  
"Ok if you insist, then I'll have the Beef Wellington with Baked Alaska." Anna tells the waiter.  
  
"And you sir?" Waiter asks.  
  
"I'll have the steak medium well and some fried shrimp. For dessert we will have two slices of your cheese cake and to drink you can bring us a bottle Crystal, something from 80 to 90 or so." Logan orders this expensive dinner trying to impress her.  
  
"Ok got it, I'll be back shortly with your Crystal." Waiter says and then walks away.  
  
"You do know that's a five hundred dollar a bottle of champagne you just ordered?" Anna points out.  
  
"I know, but I always knew how to treat my women. So what have you been up to all these years?" Logan asks.  
  
"Well after I left America and went back to England, I enrolled at London University and continued my education. I got my Masters in Business Administration and work for a Fortune 500 company. How about yourself?" Anna said.  
  
"Well I graduated college and got my Masters in Computer Analyzation, with a minor in accounting and now I just finished working for Arthur Andersen accounting firm." Logan replies.  
  
"Well it seems that the two of us have turned out well and have done well for ourselves."  
  
"Yeah we both have done well, I guess. So are you married?" Logan asks.  
  
"No never married, as a matter of fact you were as close as I ever got to getting married. How about yourselfyou, ever married?" She says.  
  
"No, never married either (the mood has shifted to an uncomfortable one). Well this is certainly weird isn't it?" Logan said.  
  
"Why would it be weird, I mean just because we were engaged once doesn't mean we can't be friends and have dinner and a drink like friends, does it?"  
  
The waiter interuptsinterrupts with their food and their champaignechampagne. He places them both on the table and then leaves  
  
"No I suppose not, I'm willing if you are. theThe food does looks good." Logan said.  
  
"Yes it dos, (she takes a bit of her Beef Wellington) umm this is really good." She replies  
  
"Yeah it is (he just stares at her)" Logan says.  
  
(She looks up) "What, what is it, why are you staring at me like that?" She asks.  
  
"Nothing, I just, never mind. So how's your baked Alaska?" Logan tries to change the subject.  
  
"Fine thanks for asking but that's not what I asked you, why are you staring at me?" Anna demands to know.  
  
"Well it's just, I was thinking of the time I proposed to you." Logan answers.  
  
"Is that all?" Anna replies as if she doesn't care and continues eating her food.  
  
"What do you mean oh is that all? Yes that's all, you do remember it don't you?" He says in a type of angry tone.  
  
"Oh of course I do, it was such a fiasco how could I forget."  
  
"What do you mean? It went pretty smoothly." Logan defends himself.  
  
"Smooth, you call what happened smooth. First you put the ring in this little cup cake and give it to me. I nearly choked eating it and when you made me cough it out, you than pretended like nothing happened and still tried to put it on my finger. Only problem was the ring wouldn't go on, so what did you do, you improvised and put my finger in your mouth and got it full of spit and than slipped the ring on. I will never forget that as long as I live, I mean how can I?. It was so hilarious (she starts to laugh)," Anna explains.  
  
"Yeah it was, wasn't it (he laughs too), I will never forget either. We did have some good times didn't we Anna?" Logan says.  
  
"The best, I never had so much fun with someone in my life. You were special to me Logan." Anna says fondly.  
  
"Then why did you leave and break my heart?" Logan said and it startles Anna.  
  
"Do we have to talk about that, we were getting along so well." Anna said  
  
"Yeah we do I never knew why. I couldn't figure out how you could say you love me, how you could make love to me and than turn around and run. I know you felt the same way I did, so the question remains, why?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe fear of committing to someone, fear of giving my heart and soul to someone. I was afraid that I would get hurt if we ever broke up." Anna finally explained.  
  
"Well I'm glad we ran into each other. You still look just as beautiful as the day we met."  
  
(She blushes) "So do you Logan. (They look into each-others eyes) So what room did you say you were in again?" Anna asks.  
  
"Four fifteen, why don't I show you." Logan suggests and they both get up and leave the table. They walk through the lobby holding hands. They get into the elevator and after the doors close they start to kiss heavily. They rub their hands over each other's bodies. They stumble over to the wall and Logan kisses her neck.  
  
"God you smell so good." Logan said.  
  
The elevator doors open and they stumble into the hallway. They are acting like a couple of dogs in heat. After fumble their way to his room and some how manage to open the door, they go in and start to peel off each other's clothes. Logan rips her dress down the middle and tears it right off of her. She than grabs his shirt and tears it open and pulls his undershirt up from tucked into his pants. He raises his hands up and she takes his shirt and undershirt off and throws them on the floor with her torn dress. She then starts to kiss his bare chest, he starts to moan and pant. He grabs her head, pulls her up and kisses her. She feels around his waist with her hands and undoes his belt and unzips his pants.  
  
They fall to the floor,floor; he kicks off his shoes and steps out of his pants. They are feeling each other's bare bodies with their hands and then he gently lays her down on the bed and lies on top of her. She rolls him over until she is on top of him. He than undoes for bra to reveal her breasts. He leans up and kisses her chest and her breasts while he slips her thong underwear off her legs and they continue like this the whole night.  
  
Chapter TenEight  
"The Morning After"  
  
Oh boy what have I done? That's what I was thinking when I woke up the mourning after we spent the night together. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life sleeping with her. Yeah sure it was good, well it was a little better than good, ok it was a lot better. But that still doesn't change the fact that it was a big mistake. I mean we weren't right for each other all those years ago, so what makes us right for one another now? That's the question I needed to answer. But I was taking it far better than Anna was.  
  
The next morning around seven o'clock he wakes up and realizes what they've done. He looks over at her, she has her arm around his chest. He pulls it off, gets up out of bed, searches around for his underwear and finds it over by the window. He walks over, puts it on and searches now for his pants. He finds them and slips into them as she begins to wake up.  
  
"Honey come back to bed." Anna says.  
  
"Honey, I'm not your honey." Logan responds.  
  
"What do you mean? After a night like that I have a few other names I could call you, stud, stallion, amazing, just to name a few." She says in a playful voice.  
  
"Yeah it was good, ok it was better than good but it meant nothing." Logan tells her.  
  
"Nothing, no it meant something all right and you know it." She says to him.  
  
"No it didn't, I was drunk and horny and that's all. You were the same way, so we looked for the closet warm body and scratched our itch."  
  
"Oh there ways scratching but it wasn't itch scratching." Anna says in a playful tone.  
  
"We had sex Anna and that was all, just plain old hot drunken earth moving sex. And yeah it was mind blowing but there was nothing there." Logan says with no emotion  
  
"We made love Logan (she gets out of bed and picks up his torn shirt and puts it on), you looked into my eyes and I know you felt it too. You called out my name, as I did yours. It was beautiful and passionate."  
  
"It was just sex, I liked what you had on and it turned me on." Logan said.  
  
"No (she goes up to him and grabs his hand and holds it), we made a connection, you know it and I know it. This feels right Logan, you know it does." Anna said.  
  
"No, sex that's all. We weren't right for each other back then, so what makes you think we are now. You left me the last time we got close, remember." Logan reminds her  
  
"That was not my fault, I never wanted to." She says and then stops.  
  
"Oh really than who's was it? Sure as hell wasn't mine. (He looks at her and she looks back) Anyway I think it would be best if you left. Here (He grabs his robe and hands it to her), you can wear this." Logan said as she takes it and puts it on. He walks to the door and opens it and just stands there in the doorway waiting for her to leave. After she puts his robe on and throws his shirt to the floor she walks to the door and stops just short of out the door and turns her head.  
  
"You know I'm right Logan and you will realize it, I just hope when you do it won't be too late." Anna says and than walks out the door and down the hall to the elevator. She presses the button and waits a few seconds for it to open and than she gets in and presses her floor and the double doors close. Logan watches her until the two doors close, than he puts his head down and walks back into his room and shuts the door.  
  
Chapter ElevenNine  
"Secrets and Lies"  
  
An hour later he has showered, changed and is ready to take care of business. He picks up Hagen's address from the nightstand, takes a look at it and then puts it into his pocket. He grabs the room key from the dresser and he heads out the door. He takes the elevator down to the lobby, he gets out, walks through the lobby and right out of the hotel. He waits at the curb along with a few others. He tries for about a minute to call a cab and than one pulls up next to him. He opens the door of the yellow and black cab and he gets in.  
  
He gives the driver Hagen's address and tells him to take him there. About ten minutes later they pull up to a rather large house, which is enclosed by a six-foot wall. In the center of the wall is an iron gate and an intercom box that is situated on a polle. Logan gets out of the of the cab leans in the passenger side window and pays the cab driver. Than the driver pulls away from the curb and drives off. Logan takes a look at the house and is in awe of what he sees. He walks up to the gate and stands beside the intercom box.  
  
Than a voice sounds from the intercom box and says: "Welcome Mr. Logan, Mr. Hagen has been expecting you." Logan is puzzled as to how the voice knew his name and that he was coming. Just then the gate opens up and he is told to walk up the driveway to the front door. So he does cautiously, thinking that it is some kind of trap. He slowly walks up the driveway, which is about half a mile long. Two minutes later he comes to the front door and as he is about to knock on the door. Then it opens and a tall man in a black suit is standing there. He looks at Logan and than says to him,  
  
"Would you please follow me, Master Hagen will join you in a moment." The man said.  
  
Logan enters the home and follows the man, all the while looking around the home. The man leads him to a room with bookshelves all around two couches and a coffee table in the middle of the room. In front of the couches, is a fire- place with a mantle. On top of the mantle are photos. The two enter the room and the man tells Logan to have a seat and Hagen will be with him shortly. Then the strange man leaves the room and Logan takes a look around.  
  
He walks over to one of the bookshelves and takes out one of the books. "Huh, War and Peace, how predictable." Logan said and than puts the book back on the shelf. Logan then walks over to the fireplace and takes a look at the pictures on the mantle. He grabs one that is right in front of him in a silver frame. In the picture it's Hagen on the right, a boy and a girl in the middle and a woman on the left. "This must be some kind of family portrait, cute family. Huh she looks kind of familiar." Logan says as he seems to recognize the girl in the photo but can't quite put his finger on who she is and than puts the picture back.  
  
He than walks over to the plush leather couches, sits down on one and just waits. Moments later this average height and build, older looking man walks into the room. He has on a pair of black slacks and a gray sweater vest and underneath the vest he has a white shirt. He has thinning gray hair and a gray mustache.  
  
"So how are you Miles?" The man asks and walks over to a table with glass cups and jars on it. He pours a brown liquid into one of the cups.  
  
"Call me Logan, I prefer it to Miles and fine thanks, considering." Logan replies as he just stares at the man.  
  
"Very well Logan. Would like a drink Logan, a brandy perhaps?" The man says.  
  
"No, I'm fine thanks for asking." Before Logan can say another word the man interrupts him.  
  
"Now I know what you're gonna say and I know why you're here. (He walks over to the other couch across from Logan's and sits down) First things first, let me introduce myself. My name as you already know is Richard Thomas Hagen or General Richard Thomas Hagen. Your second question probably is how I knew you were coming. Well I guess you could say I always knew this day would come. No matter how much I tried to deny it, I knew in the back of my mind it would come. Then when I saw that Oyama had been murdered by them, I knew that might trigger a break down in your programming." Hagen said.  
  
"Wait, what do you mean programming?" Logan asks.  
  
"Oh don't play stupid boy, let's put all our card'scards on the table here shall we. I know you found the disc and cracked the code, so you already know about project Four Horsemen." Hagan abrasively says to Logan.  
  
"Ok, alright I do and let's put our cards on the table. I know a little about the project but the details are somewhat sketchy." Logan said.  
  
"Well let me fill in the blanks for you. As you know you were one fourth of an elite covert Opps. Special Forces team. You guys were the best of the best and took this country to new heights before the new age. You performed over thirty successful missions in over a dozen countries. You toppled governments and leaders and helped the then United States of America become the top dog and consolidate its power world- wide." Hagen said.  
  
"Really, so I was a super secret weapon, a super soldier. Is that what you're saying?" Logan said.  
  
"Well yes you were in a way. You and the others, Fox, Saber Tooth and Striker." Hagan says.  
  
"What happened to the others?" Logan inquires.  
  
"You mean you don't remember?, Well I'll tell you. On a mission into the heart of Russia, which by the way proved to be your last as a whole team, you guys were sent in to gather information on the Russian nuclear program and to destroy any and all nuclear weapons they might have built. Now keep in mind they already had nukes and the capability to deliver them but they were developing a new more power type of nuclear based weapon. We were afraid because we didn't know what the bloody hell they were building but we knew that it was big. So we sent you guys in and you got the information, destroyed their prototype and killed their scientists. But in the fighting Fox and Striker were captured because of an unforeseen variable." Hagen explains.  
  
"I remember that mission and I remember what happened. Why didn't you warn us about him?" Logan asks.  
  
"We had no idea the Russians had their own super soldier. His name is Omega Red and he is an awesome weapon. Really he is, even though he was quite insane I would venture to say. He lost his mind after a mission he was on went sour, I guess he had seen to much death and finally cracked. He was an ex- russianRussian special force soldier, who was imprisoned for murdering his family after returned home from the failed mission. He was put on death row and sentenced to die. When a group of Soviet scientists had developed a new program to turn a human being into a type of super soldier by way of cybornetics. A living weapon as it were, just like you and the others.  
  
His mind was tampered with; they erased his memory and implanted a chip into his brain, to interact with his mind to plant memories they wanted him to have and to ultimately control him. Only in the long run it failed miserably. Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself here."  
  
"Tampered with his head, like you guys did to us?" Logan says in an angry tone of voice.  
  
"No, it wasn't the same with the four of you. We felt half human and half machine soldiers was not the way to go. We went down the genetics road. We genetically enhanced you guys, unlike our Russian counter parts, which used cybornetics and technology to enhance their soldier. He was the one that you remember grabbing Fox and Striker. His body was composed of carbinaidium armor, a counter to our titanium metal. His tentacles have a tazer like effect. They overwhelm the victim with an energy pulse and than drain the victimsvictims' energy, leaving a lifeless corps behind, rather amazing." Hagen said.  
  
"Is that what he did to Fox and Striker?" Logan asks.  
  
"We don't know for sure, we never herd from them after that, so we presumed them to be dead. You and Saber tooth came back to us in one peace. But the team was never the same after that."  
  
"What did you mean when you said that they failed miserably with Omega Red?" Logan asked.  
  
"Well the problem with creating a being of such power, superiority and with so much independent thought and intelligence, is that eventually he will want to take power for himself. They didn't take into account the fact that he was highly intelligent, even though he was also quite insane. The chip they implanted in his head to control him failed. His intellect and will was so powerful he was able to override it and eventually disable it. He also knew that they wouldn't have created a being with such power without making a fail-safe device. So he probed the chips memory and discovered the program they had put in place to stop him if he got out of hand. Now he was created not only to be a living weapon but also to help the Soviets in their war. You see a Democratic wave had swept through the country and infiltrated the common man, as well as those in the government.  
  
They demanded a more democratic government, geared toward giving more power back to the people. We here in this country thought it was great and did what ever we could to help it along. So this rebellion gathered enough followers among the common folk and those in key power positions with in the government to be a serious threat. They were growing every day and eventually grew large enough to rival the Soviets. So the Soviets were frightened their decades old grip on the country was about to be broken, so they turned to their top scientist to come up with a solution.  
  
And so Omega Red was born, in all his glory. They put him in command of their military force and he led them in a near victory over the Democratic movement. However with the chip disabled he saw a chance to crush both the rebels and the Soviets. He had the respect and loyalty of the men, with that he was able to overthrow the Soviets. He waged war against both what was left of the Soviets and the Rebellion. But on his eve of victory over them both, they managed to stop him cold in his tracks, as it were." Hagan explains to Logan.  
  
"If he was as powerful as you say and overrode the fail safe, how did they stop him?" Logan asks.  
  
"They simply froze him in liquid nitrogen. So problem solved right? Wrong. There was still a few Soviets left over that clung to the old ways, they took Red and kept him in a secret underground base, in hopes of later thawing him out and going through it all over again. With the war over what was left of the Soviets were weakened so badly that they had no choice but to concede to the Rebels. And so ended the Soviet reign and a new Democratic era was ushered in. We back home were elated with joy and began plotting and planning our own rule of the world, with our biggest rival gone."  
  
"Well that's an interesting story, I just have one more question, who am I?" Logan asks.  
  
"What do you mean, your Miles Logan?" Hagan said  
  
"How come I can't remember anything but the memories you guys implanted in my head?"  
  
"Well that's because we blocked them out, but with Oyama's death triggering the break down, I would assume they are slowly coming back. But I'm no scientist and as I understand it they may never come back." Hagan told Logan the disappointing news.  
  
"So I may never regain my real memories and never know who I really am and where I come from?" Logan says.  
  
"Yes, I am sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear. I don't know who you are; I only took over after they had done what they did to you. I didn't know any of you before that and was never told of your past or identities." Hagan said.  
  
"That's great you don't know who I am, well you can tell me who does know. I mean Oyama's out because he's dead and who ever killed him, killed my friend Mitch for the file I have and they are now after me. So tell me who are they and what do they want?" Logan asks.  
  
"I can only tell you that what ever got Oyama killed is going to get Edger's killed as well." Hagan said.  
  
"How did you know about Edger's?" Logan asks.  
  
"Never mind that, you can't save him, your friend Mitch doomed him and signed his death warrentwarrant. I am affraidafraid they can't be stopped." Hagan tells Logan.  
  
"Wait, what does Mitch have to do this? How did he doom Edger's and how was Oyama connected to it?" Logan asks, as he is egger to learn more.  
  
"You don't understand do you, you really don't get it. You remember what I told you once, that you can't walk away from this. They are always watching and listening." Hagan said.  
  
"Why are you telling me all this?" Logan asked.  
  
"Well because my job is done, they can't be stopped now, they have grown totoo powerful. I don't want to live in a world that is under their control. Also I thought it was time for you to know the truth." Hagan said.  
  
"What about Saber Tooth? The disc said he was still and alive and on active duty. So where is he in all this?" Logan asked  
  
"That I don't know, I don't have access to that information. I didn't know where youwhere you guys would live your alternate lives. I only got you when we need to recall you and the code was given. Again I am no scientist but I would venture to say his programming is breaking down too, that is if he knows Oyama was killed." Hagan said.  
  
"So what about those guys in the black suits? Aare they part of this Four Horseman project?" Logan asked.  
  
"Did you say men in black suits?" Hagan asks with fear in his voice.  
  
"Yeah, why, what aren't you telling me?"  
  
"Did they have hexagon shaped gold badges on them?" Hagan asks Logan.  
  
"I think so but I'm not sure why? What has got you so afraid?" Logan inquires.  
  
"I can't tell you that, if I did it would take too long, our time together is almost up. But let me tell you this, don't let them catch you; what ever you do don't let them catch you. Run and keep running and never stop digging until you find out the truth. I am only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Remember this, knowledge is power, he who controls knowledge controls the world." Hagan says in a hurry with fear in his voice.  
  
"What do you mean? I don't understand what you're telling me." Logan attempts to learn what it all means.  
  
"I don't have time to explain every little bloody detail to you,you; you will just have to figure out some things by yourself. I have helped you before I should have, I didn't think you would find me so soon but you did. I have helped you now but know this,this; I won't be there to help you later. Seek out the one called AbblyAbby Cotwen. Now go you must leave now, go now if you want to live. What killed Oyama will kill Edger's and it is bigger than you can possibly imagine." Just as he says this the tall man comes to the door and says:  
  
"Your food is all most ready." The tall man says.  
  
"Thank you Paul, I'll be right there." Hagan says to the tall man. Hagan than tells Logan to leave one more time and he does. Logan walks out of the room and the house. He quickly runs down the driveway, when he gets to the gate, he takes a look around and then he walks quickly down the street away from the house, all the while looking over his shoulder.  
  
Back at the house Hagan is still in the room and walks over to the table with the glass cups on top of it, opens a drawer and pulls something that is small out of the drawer. It appears to be a metallic object. Then a shot can be heard in the background. It's faint but still loud enough to be heard in the study. Hagan turns his head to the door and then turns his head back and looks down at what he took out of the drawer. Footsteps can be heard in the distance and they slowly drawing closer to the study where Hagan is.  
  
Than two men in black suits and wearing dark sunglasses emerge and stand in the doorway side by side to each other. Hagan turns his head and gazes upon them with a look of fear, as it appears he knows who they are and what they are there to do. Then he turns his whole body, raises his right arm and in the grasp of his hand is a small pistol.  
  
He begins to fire in the direction of the two men but he hits the wall. The two men jump out of the way and pull out of their coat pockets pistols of their own and begin to return fire back at Hagan. Their fire just hits lamps and books and furniture, turning the room into what looks like a war zone. There are books with laser holes in them, lamps that are in a million pieces. Couches with baseball size holes in them and black burn marks on the walls. Hagan puts up a valiant struggle, turning over tables and ducking behind them but it ultimately proves to be in vain, as he rises up from behind his over turn coffee table he was using as a shield. He makes a run for the other exit to the left, when he falls victim to the gunfire of his unknown attackers.  
  
He is shot once through his shoulder and he still manages to continue firing at his assailants but is unable to wound them. With blood seeping from his shoulder, he still tries valiantly to make his way to the door. With his good hand over the wound and with the pistol in the hand of his wounded arm, he is shot again but this time he is shot in his stomach. He falls to the floor on his knees and takes his hand off of his wound armed. Only to reveal his shirt has turned red with his blood. His wounded arm drops to his side and his trusty pistol falls slowly to the ground below. With the blood staining the lower part of his shirt, he just stays there dazed and in pain from his wounds.  
  
His frail old body is ready to concede but his warrior spirit is not yet ready to die. He reaches out with his wounded arm's hand, grabs the pistol from the ground and raises it slowly in the direction of his attackers. Just before he can pull that trigger back one last time, he is hit yet again in the chest.  
  
He lets go of the pistol and it just falls slowly to the ground, along with any hope he had of living. Shortly there after he falls face first down to the ground and he is now indeed down for the count. The carpet begins to turn a blood red color. As his body just lays there lifeless and motionless.  
  
The two men stop firing and put their weapons away. They then fix their suits, walk casually over to his lifeless body and survey the damage they caused to the room and make sure they leave nothing behind that can be traced back to them. The room is full of lamp pieces, laser hole ridden books and Hagan's lifeless body; it looks like world war three in there. They look down at his body and then look up at each other and just nod their heads.  
  
They then turn around and casually walk out of the room but one of them stops in the hallway and looks at a painting that was hit by Hagan's gunfire. The painting has a hole in it and is hanging crookedly on the laser hole riddled wall. He reaches out, grabs the painting, straightens it out and then he and his partner both walk down the hall and on through the kitchen and past the lifeless body of the butler. Then on out the back door of the house. One of the men pulls a palm computer out of his sport coat and says looking at it: "It's done. "." to a man sitting in a poorly lit room. Darkness surrounds the area around where the man sits.  
  
The man in the shadows says nothing but: "A job well done." Than they both get in their car and speed away from the crime scene. But a few moments after they leave, a red sedan pulls into the driveway of Hagan's home and someone gets out. That person goes inside the house. Shortly there after a loud, high pitched scream can be heard from inside the home. The person, who went in, comes out moments later and frantically gets into the car, dropping her keys to the ground before she does.  
  
As she proceeds to back her car out of the driveway, she backs into a couple of trashcans, knocking them to the ground and the trash comes spilling out. Her car leaves tire marks on the cement of the driveway, as she backs out into the street and than speeds away down the quite suburban street. As she speeds away she narrowly avoids hitting another car on the street. The only thing left untouched by the carnage and chaos was the picture of Hagan's beloved family that still sits atop the mantel of the fireplace. 


	2. ch2

Chapter Two  
"All I Wanted"  
  
"I couldn't help but think about my fallen friend. What if I never had gotten him involved in all this, would he still be alive? Would those beautiful children still have a father? I never wanted any one to get hurt because of me. All I wanted was a normal and happy life. The kind with a wife, two point five kids and the house with the white picket fence. But that dream seems so far away, now more than ever before. I asked myself why me, why did this have to happen to me, why now? Everything I have known up until now is a lie. What is my real life like? Do I have parents, brothers and sisters? Did I have a happy home, a happy and loving childhood.childhood? The childhood I always dreamed of, the childhood I always wanted. That's all I wanted as a child but I never got, until Mitch and his family came along. Whatever the truth, the real truth, I will find out, no one will stop me from that. I knew only that I couldn't trust my memories, I didn't know which were real and which were fake."  
  
"But I couldn't think about that now, it was the next morning and I was going to go about business as usual, so I wouldn't tip any one off that I knew more than I was letting on. So I went to work, I was sadder than usual because that was expected of me. Everyone gave me their condolences because they knew we where were friends but they didn't know how far back went. Than after lunch something strange happened on my way back to my desk." Logan said.  
  
" Hey"Hey Logan can we talk for a second." said Robby.  
  
"Yeah, what is it Robby" I said as I walked over to Robby who was talking with someone I'd never seen before around the office, so I thought maybe he was new.  
  
"I heard about your friend Mitch, I'm sorry for what happened to him, I saw the news," Robby said.  
  
"Thanks Robby, so am I. Wwho'sWho's your friend?"  
  
"Oh I'm sorry how rude of me, Miles Logan this is Mike Vanderjack, Mike Vanderjack this is my friend Miles Logan."  
  
"Please to meet youmeet you Mike, I'm Logan." I said to him as I looked at him.  
  
"Same here Miles." Mike said.  
  
"You'll do good to watch this guy operate, you'll learn a lot from him. He's one of our best knew accountants. He landed our firm some of our biggest clients." Robby said.  
  
"Did he now, that's great, I'm sure I can learn a lot from a man like him. A whole lot of information from a stand up guy like yourself Logan." Mike said.  
  
"Yeah I'm sure you could also." I said as I thought to myself that's an unusual choice of words.  
  
"So Logan, did Mitch tell you about cases he was working on? I mean you guys were close right? I know people who are close talk a lot to one another." Mike inquired.  
  
"Hey Mike come on, he just lost a good friend of his, lay off all right." Robby says to Mike.  
  
"Well I mean they were good friends maybe they discussed his cases." Mike said.  
  
"No he didn't talk about his cases, he was a professional." Logan said.  
  
"Not even his last case? I mean the guy did meet with such a tragic end." Mike replied.  
  
"Yeah, so anyway I gotta go, I'll see you guys later." Logan said in an awkwardquaawkward ward ttonetone, than he walks away.  
  
After work I went back to the hotel and called Samantha to see if she was all right. She said that nothing out of the ordinary happened to her. So I asked her to meet me later at Jakes. But first I had some other business to take care of. I figured out that they went after Mitch because of his copy of the police file he had. But I guess they didn't find it. So they killed him because he knew totoo much. I thought maybe his partner could help me. So I called his partner and asked him to meet me in the park. I was sitting down on the park bench when he walked right up to me.  
  
"So why did you call me here." Mathew says as he sits down next to Logan on the park bench.  
  
"I need some information about Mitch, that only you have." I said.  
  
"What do you want to know that you don't already know? What do I know?"  
  
"I need to know if he said anything to you before he died, any thing out of the ordinary?"  
  
"Like what exactly do you mean?" Mathew said.  
  
"Like anything out of the ordinary"  
  
"No nothing I can recall that stands out." Mathew said to Logan.  
  
"When was the last time you seen saw him?" I said.  
  
"Well he came to my apartment around 8:00 o'clock at night."  
  
"Eight at night? So he must have wentgone gone to see you right after I left him." I said.  
  
"So you met with him that night too?"  
  
"Yeah earlier in the night. Why did he say he was there to see you?" Logan asked.  
  
"He said he was in the neighborhood and had bought a new antique jewelry box for his wife that he wanted to show me."  
  
"He said he was in the neighborhood?"  
  
"Yeah he said he was in the neighborhood and thought he would stop by." said Mathew.  
  
"Last time I saw him washim was at Jakes and Jakes is no where near where you live." I said.  
  
"Come to think of it he didn't even have the jewelry box with him to show me, all he had was a key he gave to me." Mathew said.  
  
"Do you have the key he gave you with you?"  
  
"Yeah right here. He said as he takes it out of his pocket and gives it to Logan.  
  
"Did he tell you what the key was too?" I said.  
  
"No, all he did was give it to me and tell me to take care of it. Not to tell anyone that I had it and to keep it in a safe place because he might need it later." Mathew said.  
  
"Thanks Matt, you've been a big help." Logan says as he gets up from the park bench and walks away.  
  
I left the park and wondered what the key he gave to Mathew was for? Then I thought about what Mathew said that Mitch said to him. I was in the neighborhood, why would he be in the neighborhood? He would have had to have gone straight to Mathew's house after Jakes. Than there was the jewelry box, his wife doesn't wear enough jewelry to have a box. So then why did he buy the box, what was the real reason he bought the box? So I decided to go to Mathew's neighborhood for a drive. I drove up and down the block and up the street. I had driven around a few times until I saw it, THE NEIGHBORHOOD STORAGE. It was a public storage place called The Neighborhood Storage. Could that have been what he meant buy in the neighborhood.neighborhood? It was the best lead I had to go on, so I decided to go in and see if he had a locker or some kind of safety box. I went in and approached the girl at the counter.  
  
"Hi how are, my name is William I'm trying to find out where this key goes, if it goes to a locker or something." I said.  
  
"Do you have id?" The woman asked Logan  
  
"No, I don't." Logan replied.  
  
"Then I can't let you in."  
  
"All right I'll level with you, my friend owns the locker, he died and left me the key. WhatsWhat's inside could be a clue about who killed him. I'm just trying find his killer. So please can you help me?"  
  
"Well all right, go ahead but you only have five minutes. Let me see the key (she takes the key Logan pulled out from his pocket), oh yeah this key belongs to locker six. It's straight ahead, when you get to the end make a right and go down about ten feet." The lady said.  
  
"Thanks very much, straight ahead turn right and go down ten feet." I said.  
  
So I went down the hallway and all I saw were a bunch of lockers. I got to the end and made a right. I came to locker six; it was about as tall as a shoebox and as wide as one. There was a pad lock on it, so I pulled out in the key, put it in the lock and turned it. It did fit the lock and unlocked it. So I took off the lock and opened the locker door. There was a jewelry box inside just like Mitch told Matthew about. It was brown with black trim. I took it out and opened it; there was a pair of earrings and a necklace inside. But there was also was a piece of paper with the words red nu kool written on it. I was puzzled as to what the meaning was and I thought it was Latin or something.  
  
But then I looked at it again and knew he was trying to tell me something, thenand then I remembered he liked to spell and say words backward, he was rather good at it. So I spelled it backwardsbackward in my head and it spelled out look under. So I figured it meant that there was something hidden under in a secret compartment. But I couldn't figure out how to open the compartment. I looked at the box and saw these symbolssymbols carved on themcarved symbols it, they looked like roses. I felt each one and one of them in the middle in the front, felt loose. I turned it to the right and all of a sudden the box split in half and the top half popped up. It revealed a smaller hidden bottom half with a floppy disc in it. So I took the disc, closed the box and put back in the locker. Locked it up just like it was before,before; I proceeded to leave the place.  
  
"Thank You miss for your help" I said.  
  
"No problem William, glad I could be of some help." She said back to me.  
  
I left the building and got into my car. As I was driving off I saw two men in black suites enter the building. They looked very suspicious but I didn't want them to see me their there so I drove off and went back to my hotel.  
  
(They both walk up the steps and into the building) "Excuse me miss, I'm special agent Smith and this is special agent Jones (they show their badges), we're here to see if you've seen this man (they show a picture of Logan to the woman)" Agent Smith said.  
  
"Why do you want to know? Is he a criminal or in some kind of trouble?" She said.  
  
"No we're just looking for him, to ask him a few questions. So have you seen him?" Agent Jones says.  
  
"Well he does look familiar but then again a lot of people look familiar. So many come through here everyday it's really hard to tell.," she said. (They both look at one another and then her)  
  
"Thank yYouyou for all your help miss, if you think of anything else please give us a call" said Agent Smith (he hands her his card and they leave).  
  
"She's lying, she has seen him and seen him very recently." Smith says.  
  
"Yes she was, she definitely seen him. Her words are lies but her thoughts are the truth." Jones says to Smith.  
  
"But what was he doing here, I wonder?" Said Smith  
  
"Do you think he was here for to retreaveretrieve it? Perhaps he figured out where Mitch hid it." Jones said.  
  
"Yes that is why he was here and he now has it. We must find him and soon. He is getting closer to discovering the truth." Agent Smith said.  
  
"Yes he is and if he does, everything we have worked for these ten years will go up in smoke." Agent Jones says.  
  
"Yes, we can't let that happen, we are so close to acheivingachieving our ultimate goal. No one knows we are involved but if he firguresfigures it out, he will expose it and expose us. We just missed him,him; we are steps behind him and will catch him soon.  
  
"Yes perhaps but every moment he is free he jeopardizes the mission. Come on letslet's get back to base and report in." Jones said. (They walk back down the steps and walk a few steps down the street and stop at a black SUV and get in and drive away.)  
  
When I got back to the hotel the one thing on my mind was too find out what was on that disc. But first I needed a computer to access the disc. I had a laptop back at my apartment. I was a little uneasy about going back, what if they knew what I was doing and were waiting for me?.? I had to go, it was the only way. So I did, I waited across the street in my car to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. There was no one that seemed unusual in sight. I figured it was all clear, so I got out of my car and went up the steps inside the building. My apartment was in the forth floor so I was going to take the elevator but thought the stairs was a better idea. I got to the forth floor and walked out the main stairway.  
  
I took a look around the hallway, nothing unusual, everything the same as it always is. So I walked down the hall to apartment 3D, it looked like no one had been in my apartment. The door hadn't been kicked in and the lock wasn't picked either, at least as far as I can tell, so I put my key in and opened the door. I went in and took a look around. Everything was exactly where I had left it. So I knew no one had been in my place and if they did get in they didn't touch anything, which defeats the purpose of going through the trouble of breaking in.  
  
Maybe they were watching to see if I came home but when I didn't maybe they figured I would eventually and they could catch me when I do. If that was true I knew I had to hurry up. My laptop was on the coffee table, I packed it up and packed a bag of clothes and other things I needed. You know just for a couple of days or so I thought at the time. I also took my copy of the Oyama file out of my safe in the apartment. I took one last look out the window to see if there was anything wrong and again nothing, everything was as it should be. So I left and locked up the apartment. I took the main stairway again but this time I left through the back door of the building. In case some one saw me go in through the front, they won't know that I left.  
  
I walked out and looked to my left and my right and proceed to go left to the corner. I walked around the corner to the other corner of the block, where I can see my car. No was near my car, so I crossed the street and walked up to my car. I opened the trunk and put the bags in and I shut the truck. I got back in my car and drove back to the hotel. I was very careful,careful; I took side streets and allies, so I knew that no one would be able to follow me.  
  
I brought my bags inside the room and set up my laptop to see just what was on that disc. I put the disc in and opened it. The disc had several files on it. One was titled Oyama. I thought could this be the same file he gave to me?.? He did tell me to make a copy of it on disc. So I opened it and it was the same file that he gave to me. I closed it and looked at the other files on the disc. The next file was titled IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. I found that to be odd because the same phrase was used again but what did it mean this time. I tried to open it like I did with the Oyama file but this one was pass coded and I didn't have the passcode. The next two files were titled, "Project Hynds Blood and Project Four Horsemen." I tried to open those as well and they too were pass- coded. I sat there trying to think what the password could be. I tried his wife and children's names, his name and his birthday but no dice.  
  
Damn what could this password be, I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost time to meet with Samantha, so I hid the disc and left. I met up with her around 8:15 p.m. at Jakes. She was already there waiting for me at a table, I went up to the table and sat down.  
  
"Hi thanks for coming, I'm glad your alright" I said.  
  
"Thanks, I can say the same for you. So what's up? , I assume you found something new or you wouldn't have called me here." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah but not here, you brought your car?" Logan asked.  
  
"Yes of course I did." Samantha said.  
  
"Good come were going back to my hotel room and we'll take your car." Logan said.  
  
So we got up and left Jakes, the hotel wasn't too far from there. We got into the car and drove away but we weren't the only ones.  
  
"So where are we going anyway?" Samantha said.  
  
"To my hotel, I need your help with something." I said to her.  
  
"Yeah I know you told me but how do we get there? Which hotel are you staying at?" Samantha asks.  
  
"Just make a right at the next light and go straight and I'll tell you when to stop."  
  
"Ok but why?" Samantha asked.  
  
"I think we're being followed. That black SUV has been following us ever since we left Jakes. I just want to be sure if we're being followed or not, so we don't lead them to what there looking for." I said.  
  
"Ok but where are we going now, if we aren't going to your hotel yet?" Samantha said.  
  
"To a nightclub called Far Out, we'll be able to loose them there. Make a left at this light. Park right here on the side." Samantha makes the turn and they park along the sidewalk.  
  
"Are they still behind us?" Samantha asked.  
  
"Yup, two guys in black suits that I saw earlier. Come on lets go inside, I think you'll like it." I said as we got out car and go inside the club and the two men follow them in. They get a table and the two men get a table about 15 feet away in plain sight. Samantha it's isit's in front of Logan with her back turned to the men. As the two men sit side by side facing Logan and Samantha.  
  
"Where are they? Did they follow us in?" Samantha says.  
  
"There at the table to the right about 17 feet away." Logan responds.  
  
"Are they staring at us?"  
  
"If they were staring any harder they burn a hole in the wall. You want anything to drink?" I said.  
  
"Yeah, get me a beer." Samantha said.  
  
"You want a beer? I thought you were more refined than that, you know red wine and champagne." Logan sarcastically says.  
  
"I can lower myself to your beer belly and belching nature if need be." She sparingly responds.  
  
(Logan gets up and goes to the bar, one of the two men follow him to the bar)  
  
"Yeah I'll take two beers (bartender gets them for him. The man in the black suite also orders two beers), thanks a lot man. (Logan pulls his wallet out form his back pocket and pays him and then walks back to the table and the man in the black suite does the same) Here you go," (hands her one beer)" Logan said.  
  
"Thanks, this is an interesting club you've brought me too." Samantha said  
  
"It's a space theme,theme; the lights and the black background give you a feeling like your out in space doesn't it?" I said.  
  
"Yes it does, I like it, so what do you want to do now?" Samantha said.  
  
"Well why don't we dance, after all we are in a dance club." Logan said.  
  
"Dance, you?. You don't strike me as the dancing type." Samantha said.  
  
"Yeah that's what people usually do in a dance club. And I have been known to cut a little rug from time to time." I said.  
  
"Ok but are you sure you can keep up with me?" Samantha says jokingly.  
  
"Oh I think I'll manage all right." Logan wittingly responds. (They both get up and go to the dance floor, as the two men just watch their every move. They get to the dance floor and begin to dance)  
  
"You're a pretty good dancer for an accountant, who would have thought." Samantha said.  
  
"Ouch, you're a pretty good dancer for a shrink, who would have thought." Logan responds.  
  
"Are our two shadows still there?" Samantha said.  
  
"Yup still there but not for long. Here's what we're going to do, when I tell you we're going to move left to become more mixed in with the crowd. Than when we are and they can't see us so well, we'll slip out the other side of the crowd and out the back, got it?" I said.  
  
"I think so, you sure it'll work?" Samantha asks.  
  
"No but we've got nothing to loose. Ready, now move to your left (They move to the left and go deeper into the crowd of people until they are no longer visible to the two men). Come on they can't see us, lets get out of here (They proceed to leave out the back entrance of the club)." I said.  
  
"Hey where did they go? They disappeared." Man one said to Man Two.  
  
"What, they'erthey're right there on the dance floor" Man Two said.  
  
"No there they're gone, they must have ducked out." Man One said.  
  
"What! Come on we got to find them. (They get up and go into the crowd and on the dance floor. They bump into a large man who is dancing with his girlfriend. He turns around and is upset that they bumped into him and didn't say excuse me). Man two said.  
  
"Hey what the fuck," Large man says to the two men in black suits.  
  
"Do you see them anywhere in here?" Man two said.  
  
"No but it's hard to see because of the dimmed lights. It looks like we lost them." Man one said.  
  
"The back entrance, they probably slipped out the back. Come let's go., (They proceed to leave when the large man grabs Man One on the shoulder)" Mango," Man Two said.  
  
"Hey I was talking to you, now I'm going to beat the hell out of you." Large Man says. (Man one turns around)  
  
"I don't have time for this shit,shit; I have other matters to tend to." Man One says. (He grabs the Large Man on his shoulder. The Large Man arrogantly looks down at his hand on his shoulder and smiles. Than he takes a swing at Man One but he ducks and than grabs him by the neck and flings him across the room into some tables 20 feet away. Everyone looks in amazement at what they just saw. The large man gets up and charges Man One like a rhino. Man One jumps into the air and swings his right leg in a half circle motion and kick's the face of the Large Man. Man One punches him in the stomach, then in the face and breaks his nose. His face is full of blood and he is out of it. Man One does another swing kick to his face but this time the Large Man spins around once and hits the floor, he's out cold. Security comes but doesn't dare mess with the two men. They just turn and walk right out the club to the street, only to find Logan and Samantha have already left the area and are no where to be found.)  
  
"Damn, they got away." Man One says. (Man two takes out a hand held computerized device and makes a video call to someone. On his screen all that can be seen is a figure sitting in a chair with the lights dimmed to conceal his identity. His voice has also been altered by some kind of machine to sound like a computer voice.)  
  
"Jack and Jill gave us the slip." Man Two says to this figure in the dark on the screen of his hand held device.  
  
"They gave you the slip! Idiots! How could they give you guys the slip? Find them and do it now or its both your Hydeshides." The Strange Man said.  
  
"Yes sir, well find them, don't worry they could not have gotten far. (He puts the device away in his jacket pocket) Come on I think I know where they're going." Man Two says to Man One. (They both get into their vehicle and drive off as flashing lights and sirens can be herd in the background. Someone inside the club has called the police and an ambulance but by the time they get there the two men are long gone)  
  
After the club incident we knew they were on to us, who ever they were. So we went back to my hotel to take care of some more business. We were going to try to crack the codes on those files on Mitch's disc, to see what was so important that he would pass code them. We arrived at the hotel around nine thirty at night. We got out the car and the hole time from the car to the door we were looking over our shoulders, you know just incase. We approached my hotel door when the person in the room next to us came out.  
  
(Opens the door) "Logan, Logan" said the man in the room next door.  
  
"Yeah what do you want, I'm kind of in a hurry here." I said to him as Samantha just stood in the back minding her own business.  
  
"Oh I see, you and your lady friend back there want some time alone,e ,a" The Man says to me in a smug voice.  
  
"No it's not like that John." Logan responds.  
  
"Sure, sure, what ever you say Logan." John says in a doubtful tone.  
  
"Anyway what did you want in the first place?" I said to him with an annoyed tone.  
  
"Well I just thought you should know that today while I was in the lobby earlier today two guys came looking for you." John said.  
  
(Earlier in the day)  
  
(They walk into the lobby and push the man next door aside and walk up to the front desk)  
  
"Can I help you gentleman with something?" The desk clerk said.  
  
"Yes we need some information pertaining to a case we are currently working on. (They flash their badges)" Man one said.  
  
"What kind of information, I'm just a desk clerk at a hotel how much could I know?" Desk clerk said to the two men.  
  
"We need to know if you've seen this man." Man Two said. (Pulls out a picture of Logan and shows it to the clerk. He takes it from man two's hand and looks at it)  
  
"No, I don't believe I have. I see a lot of people around here everyday and no one particular man seems to stand out. But what I can do is take this picture and show it to some of the other clerks on the other shifts to see if they have seen this man. If anyone remembers him than I'll give you guys a call, do you have a card or something?" The clerk says.  
  
"Yeah here (takes a card from his jacket pocket and hands it to the clerk and the clerk take's it and keeps the picture), again if you or anyone else remembers or sees him in the future please remember to give us a call." Man two said.  
  
"Alright sorry I couldn't be more help to you boys." The clerk said to the two men as they left. On their way out they look at the man from next-door with a suspicious look and then kept on going out the door.  
  
"Anything?" Man Agent Smith said.  
  
"No, nothing, I couldn't read him. He must be one of us." Agent Jones said.  
  
"Yes, not very strong but strong enough to block both of us. We still have seventeen more hotels to check." Agent Smith said as they got into their car and take one last look at the clerk and the man next-door through the glass of the door of the lobby and then they just drive away.  
  
"And that's all that happened." John says.  
  
"What time did this happen?" I inquired to the next- doorman.  
  
"Well it was around eleven o'clock this morning." John said to Logan.  
  
"And Ralph didn't tell them anything right?" Logan asks.  
  
"No he said he had never heard or seen you before and it looks like they bought it. Ralph was real cool about it." John said.  
  
"Good, tell Ralph I said thanks and thanks to you too for not saying anything, I really appreciate it John." I said to John.  
  
"No problem but if you don't mind me asking who were those guys and what did they want with you? You seem like a nice man, what could guys like that possibly want with someone like you?" John said.  
  
"Don't ask John, I don't want you to get involved in this too. Just forget about it, forget you ever met me too. It'll be best that way and if anyone asks just say you never saw me before in your life." I said to him as I walked away and opened my hotel door and Samantha and I went in. 


End file.
